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Invercargill’s hospitality workers have found themselves in demand with the opening of the new Distinction Hotel in Invercargill.

Hotelier Geoff Thomson has transformed the former Menzies Building in Esk St West into a new 4.5-star Distinction Hotel.

In a historic moment on Friday night, the new hotel welcomed its first tour group - Pounamu Tourism Group’s Sir Edmund Hilary Explorer.

The opening of the new hotel has created more job opportunities in Invercargill for those working in hospitality.

Invercargill Licensing Trust CEO Chris Ramsay confirmed they had lost some key staff to the Distinction Hotel, which was not unexpected.

“It’s not just our businesses; some other hospitality providers have lost a few as well, I understand. It just tests the depth and the available pool of talent to fill the gaps when they come up,” Ramsay said.

“It’s been a bit of a challenge, but we’ve viewed it as an opportunity and have done a lot more cross-training, so providing opportunities for people across different departments.”

Ramsay said with close to 700 staff, the ILT was in a position to redeploy and relocate staff to help fill gaps that might have been created.

He also wished those staff who had decided to take up opportunities at the Distinction Hotel all the best.

“When people are making decisions for career development, you can’t stand in their way, and to be fair, they have learned a lot from us too, which is why they are attractive for Distinction to take on.”

Ramsay was comfortable with ILT’s remuneration and career progression opportunities in its quest to attract and retain staff.

The increased job opportunities in the hospitality sector in Invercargill adds further weight to the idea of developing a training hotel in the city.

There has been talk of the prospect of the ILT partnering with the Southern Institute of Technology to transform the Kelvin Hotel into a training hotel.

The opening of the new 150-room Distinction Hotel is expected to have an impact on occupancy levels at other hotels in Invercargill.

If that does play out, repurposing the six-floor hotel, 61-room Kevin Hotel into a new training hotel is viewed as a potential option.

Ramsay said it would not just help train more hospitality workers for southern businesses, but it would help attract more students from throughout New Zealand and internationally to the city.

“It’s an opportunity to grow the population, as much as it is to grow the skill base. That’s probably where the greater opportunity is with the collaboration with SIT.”

The Government’s decision to hand autonomy back to SIT is a significant step towards making a training hotel in Invercargill a possibility.