In the 10 months since he was appointed hotel manager at Sudima Lake Rotorua, 28-year-old Awatere Douglas has hardly paused for breath.
He travelled to seven major North American cities to promote tourism operators in one of the world’s largest markets; attended the Indigenous Peoples Conference in Perth, Australia; and helped embed a Treaty policy and provide free Te reo Māori lessons to all Sudima Hotels staff.
In recognition of his remarkable rise and the path he is forging for others, Awatere has been named winner of the Emerging Business Leader at the 2023 Tompkins Wake Rotorua Business Awards, where Sudima Lake Rotorua was a finalist in the Manaakitanga Tourism & Hospitality category.
Awatere was also shortlisted for the Emerging Tourism Leader Award in the 2023 New Zealand Tourism Awards.
Awatere’s professional trajectory was accelerated by an earlier win – he was the inaugural recipient of a Ngati Whakaue Scholarship.
The scholarships, a joint venture with Sudima Hotels, are available to Ngati Whakaue descendants to assist them to obtain employment and training positions with the hotel group, and earn diplomas or degrees in hotel management, hospitality management, and/or professional cookery.
He went on to earn degrees in tourism management (majoring in hospitality) and Te reo Māori from the University of Waikato.
“I greatly appreciate the opportunity that the scholarship gave me,” he says.
“Hopefully my story entices other young people into finding themselves jobs in hotels and hospitality. There are so many jobs available in the tourism industry and so much room for career progression.”
At the Indigenous Peoples Conference, around 500 people representing cultures from around the world came together to talk about their work and share some of their insights into the industry.
“We built a lot of connections there, especially with the likes of Kohutapu Lodge to support a cultural exchange programme. Sudima was the only hotel chain that was there from New Zealand. We have already committed to next year’s conference in Taiwan.
“We are honoured to sponsor the accommodation portion of the Youth Cultural Exchange programme, Native Nations – Tracing Indigenous Footsteps. This is a groundbreaking initiative that unites rangatahi and cultures from around the world – a group of Aotearoa rangatahi took an eight-day journey through sacred Aboriginal lands, and six Aboriginal young people from Australia are in turn being hosted here to learn about Te Ao Māori and our culture, traditional food, historical sites, and more.”
An ultimate goal of this work is for rangatahi to lead the creation of thematic indigenous and regenerative tourism trails and packages which enable visitors to travel across lands in Australia and New Zealand, following a trail of hope and healing.
With Awatere’s support Sudima Hotels continues to expand its embrace of Te reo Māori in other ways.
For the past 20-plus weeks the company has provided free Te reo Māori lessons to all staff at Sudima Lake Rotorua, courtesy of Kotihi Reo Consultants. The company’s policy formally recognises its responsibility to uphold the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in all its dealings with staff, guests, suppliers, communities, and the environment.
While Awatere says initially he was asked to lead much of this work, “now we are seeing people in the business taking it upon themselves to implement their own initiatives, for example a nationwide initiative to give people free coffee if they ordered it in Te reo Māori”.
“That was something our people did of their own accord, so I’m really happy. We now do Māori language lessons at Sudima Lake Rotorua every week.”
Sudima Hotels and Hind Management COO Les Morgan says Awatere has vastly exceeded expectations for a first-time hotel manager.
“Awatere has excelled at everything he’s turned his hand to, and he has shown himself willing to learn about the hotel and hospitality industry from the ground up.
“Sudima Hotels is intent on being a responsible and caring business presence in every community in which we operate, and Awatere helps set the tone for how we do that in Rotorua.
“He is also proving a special leader for our brand and wider industry on the global stage and it’s been wonderful to see how readily he has stepped into a cultural advocacy and ambassadorial role this year in the US and Australia.”
In September, Awatere returned from a nearly three-week whistle-stop trip through Chicago, Boston, New York, Toronto, Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles doing a roadshow, which he says “was awesome”.
“It was different getting in front of buyers and agents and seeing how that side of the business works. It gave me an appreciation for people who do that regularly. For around 80 per cent of the people we met, New Zealand culture was relatively new, and it was interesting to show them how we work and what our practices look like. We have a lot of opportunity to share our culture more overseas.”
Awatere likens the experience of becoming a hotel manager to putting on the black rugby jersey, “but in hotel terms”, and says: “I am really appreciative of the company allowing me to take on these experiences”.
“My family is very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve. They got a massive surprise when I told them about my trip to North America. To be able to represent my whānau and my iwi on a global stage, it doesn’t get much better than that. And to travel to North America and share our culture and our stories – that’s what tourism is all about.”
