Numinous talks with Hall Cannon, Owner of Otahuna Lodge in New Zealand
This week, I caught up with Hall Cannon, MD and Owner of Otahuna Lodge (“Otahuna” being Maori for “little hill amongst the hills”), just minutes outside of Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand. A long way from his home town, Hall proudly calls himself a Kiwi and is a self confessed dedicated explorer. Hall shares a little more with us about his love for the lodge, built in 1895 and considered one of the best examples of unspoiled Queen Anne architecture in Australasia:
Hall, you’re a long way from “home”, how did you find yourself to become the owner of Otahuna Lodge, one of New Zealand’s most famous Lodges?
Yes, originally American by birth - from Memphis - I was living with my partner, Miles, in New York in 2004 and I surprised him with an epic birthday present - a two week vacation to New Zealand. Over those two weeks we saw a great deal of the country, but certainly not all of it, and about a year later we considered what might happen if we left New York and decided to live elsewhere. So, we had a later-in-life gap year, moved around the world and spent a further three months in New Zealand, driving from the bottom of the South Island to the north of the North Island. Curiously along the way a few folk said “you should go and look at this crazy old homestead outside of Christchurch, it’s unlike anything else you’ll find in the country”. At that point Miles and I were contemplating where we might want to live, and what we would actually do when we found that spot. We arrived at Otahuna and found this pretty remarkable, historic house. Most of the luxury lodges in New Zealand had been purpose built in the previous 15 or 20 years, but at Otahuna we thought we would have a different story to tell. We have this amazing heritage of the house, the incredible gardens that surround us, and also an ability to grow the vast majority of our own vegetables, fruit, nuts on site which is quite unusual. That’s the short story of how we found Otahuna Lodge, and we purchased the property in 2006 and started the refurbishment of the lodge later that year and reopened in 2007 as a small Relais & Chateaux property. One the many amazing things about New Zealand is that all of the owners of the Relais & Chateau properties come from outside of New Zealand and they came for their love of this place.
New York to New Zealand, that’s some change! Were either Miles or yourself in hospitality previously?
We were not! I know that makes us quite unusual, but both of us are very passionate, not just about travel but what makes for memorable travel experiences and what speaks to us and what we wanted to incorporate into Otahuna Lodge. We certainly had an incredible learning curve of moving internationally, becoming residents in a foreign country, becoming business owners in that country and launching that business. It was a lot at the time. It’s been such an amazing ride and we have an incredible team of people, many of whom have been in hospitality for decades, so it’s been fantastic for us. When we reopened Otahuna in 2007 we had this team and we still do, the same head chef, the same gardener, the same head housekeeper. They have been with us for 15 years + now, and that continuity is a big part of what we are all about at Otahuna Lodge.
It’s great having people come in outside of the industry too, fresh eyes, ideas, different perspectives and the ability to put a different slant on a property, would you agree?
Correct, there’s an awful lot that obviously gets taught in hotel schools, but there’s also a lot that doesn’t. One of the many unique aspects of Relais & Chateaux properties is that they are all privately owned, and therefore reflective of the passions of the people behind them. For those owners, they want the experience to captivate and enchant the guests and that’s really something that comes from the heart - it can’t be taught in a classroom. It’s personal and it’s driven by passion and creativity.
When you & Miles came to New Zealand, what was it that enchanted and captivated you? What stays with you now as your most singular favourite thing about this country?
I know it might sound like a bit of a cliche, but for American’s a big part of why they first come to New Zealand is for the “Lord of The Rings” type of unbelievable scenery. This kind of world-in-miniature; glaciers cutting through rainforest, volcanoes, the world’s rarest dolphins. Such an interesting array and diversity of geographic and geological factors coming to play in a very small country. But what keeps us here and what is the most amazing part of this journey is the New Zealand people. It’s this kind of very earnest, cheeky, humorous tribe of folk that quite simply, just get on with it. One of the things I love the most about the people is the generosity of spirit and a warmth that pervades everything they do. Of course at Otahuna, we need to make sure that there is a strong element of “polish” on our approach to service, but I find so often that when people come to NZ for the first time, they are dumbfounded by how much the locals are interested in them and genuinely care about how their experience is, and always trying to make it even better. Our guests will always remember how we made them feel or how we surprised them or provided them with some insight that they might not have known before, and that’s a big part it. That first trip when we came here, I had never stayed in properties as small as what we see here in NZ. Our largest Relais & Chateaux property is about 25 rooms, and the smallest is 5. In that size a property, you have the ability to really drill down on what a guest wants to know, and how to improve their stay. Bigger properties can never understand how every guest came to find them. We have the ability to find that out simply by having the level of personalisation and graciousness that the New Zealand lodges are able to provide.
As we are approaching the corner to coming out of the pandemic, how are you feeling and what do you see as the lasting impact that Covid-19 will have on the property?
We are approaching that corner and it’s thrilling! Firstly, it has been fantastic to see our friends in Australia are opening their borders to travelling internationally again. Here at Otahuna we are standing by and very excitedly waiting for our friends from Australia and around the world to return to New Zealand once again. We love the travel trade in Australia and can’t wait to be working with them once more.
The truth is that we have had exceptionally fortunate ride for the vast majority - not only have we mostly remained open and operational, and we have certainly not known the concerns and heartache that many other parts of the world have known. In many ways though, it’s forced us to be as creative as possible as a team, and that’s been so interesting. We sat down in early May 2020, emerging from our first lockdown and had no idea what the future would hold, the only one thing we did know was that we would do everything we could to keep things going and most importantly, to safeguard and protect the livelihoods of everyone who works at Otahuna. We were the first lodge to reopen and we changed our offer. It was the first time we ran as a restaurant open to the public, not just residents, and there was so much demand! It was fantastic. But then the other challenge was to try and keep engaged with what was a domestic market only - how do we keep New Zealanders wanting to come back? Historically, New Zealand guests would only be about 8% of our business, so we started hosting different events and we’ve now hosted over 14 in the last 12 months and they have been everything from wine-makers dinners, truffle dinners, garden parties, and an array of events hosted around our garden of lovely daffodils of course. The pandemic has also provided further means for people to celebrate what is important to them, and as the world opens up and we all emerge out of this, I think people will choose to travel with friends and partners more. With New Zealand being blessed with wide open spaces, and having not known the horror that other countries have experienced will probably hold us in good stead as a desired destination. Having only seven guest bedrooms, it’s become so desirable even from a domestic perspective for people to take advantage of our “Lord of The Manor” offer - ie, exclusive buyouts for multi-generational family travel. The property is perfect for it.
As the owner, you must keep the team motivated, uplifted, creative, but what helps you to keep motivate and stay the course?
Some days I think we all wonder about the level of success of keeping focused! But I often reflect on when Miles & I first found Otahuna, we truly believed that we had found the place where we wanted to live for the rest of our lives and when you find something you love, you fight for it. And that is the most simple way I know how to answer that. We just keep fighting the good fight, with an awareness that one day that this will be different to how it is today. It may not go back to the way it was, but it will not stay as it is now. Borders will not stay shut, our operation will not be compromised, and life will go on.
So what’s your vision for the next 12-24 months and how does Relais & Chateaux help you serve that vision?
The vision is as it’s always been; to provide a truly unique experience that guests can only have at Otahuna and only in New Zealand. At the end of the day, what is the point of travelling all the way around the world to go to a place, or have an experience that you could have five minutes down the road. So those moments of enchanting and surprising our guests remains every bit a part of the vision as it always has. Whether it’s now or in two years’ time, we will always look at how we define and refine that. As to Relais & Chateaux, well they are crucial in reminding our audiences globally that we are here and intend to be here for when our overseas guests can return. The collective Relais & Chateaux team will be doing everything we can to ensure that the market knows how attractive, safe and viable a destination New Zealand is as much as anywhere else in the world.
So, if I were having a chat with the team, would they say life has been pretty much as usual at Otahuna?
Actually, we were never prepared to be as busy with the NZ market as we have been! That’s not to say we don’t need borders to open, of course we do, but in some areas, our team have never been busier. Pre-pandemic, a busy night for the kitchen would have been 10 or 12 guests because of our small number of guest bedrooms, suddenly we’ve had nights were we are having up to 28 or 30 guests in the restaurant. Of course in many other restaurants, they’re still small numbers I know, but it represents up to 200% more than what we are accustomed to doing in one night! The team have been remarkable at “rolling with it”, and I am proud of how well they have boxed through this. Like many hospitality businesses, you see people being really stretched at the moment, staff shortages etc, we have been really lucky in New Zealand that it’s not been as acute here. We have not lost any staff through the pandemic, which is fantastic, it was our goal to not have to let anyone go and I think the team very much believe in what we want to accomplish, and they’re all so important for their individual contributions to achieving that.
What has been your most memorable service experience when travelling?
Great travel experiences happen across the spectrum of hospitality. You can have an amazing experience at the budget Pensione in Europe that you never thought would be that great and be served one of the best meals of your life. But you can also have that experience in a “true” 5 star palace hotel in Paris. I’m grateful for having been blessed with many amazing travel experiences and the best ones are those that are rooted in surprise and spontaneity. For anyone who is well travelled, when something does surprise you? I find that I am always deeply grateful for those special moments. What springs to mind though, is a little Relais & Chateaux hotel in Virginia, USA, called The Inn and Little Washington. This is one of my favourite hotels in the world. It’s aligned with the same values that we have at Otahuna; a real commitment to protection of heritage, and a real commitment to celebrating culinary traditions of the location and a really whimsical sense of spirit.
What would you say has been your biggest career break?
Hmmm, that’s a tough one. There are many moments in our Otahuna journey that I’m so grateful for. Miles and I were only 29 years old when we bought the lodge, and I think it’s great to be 29 and know so very little about what it is that you don’t know! Ignorance can be blissful. I remember so many extraordinary kindnesses that have been shown to us over the years. A unique part of the NZ lodge story is how close we all are, personally and professionally. I don’t think that’s the norm in this industry. All of us here in NZ within Relais & Chateaux are in WhatsApp groups, we travel together professionally and ultimately we all really try and help each other out and that is ultimately to the benefit of the guest because we work so closely together.
What would you be doing in a parallel life?
I think what I’m doing is pretty close to what I’d always have wanted to do… otherwise, I think I would have preferred to be a university Professor. I think there’s something wildly satisfying about being associated with challenging intellectual questions and having the freedom to explore that!
Advice coming into the industry - what would be piece of advice.
I get asked this a lot - most of all to go out and have amazing travel experiences yourself - at whatever budget range suits you, just go and experience travel. More than anything else, this influences what you do and how you want to do it. The experiences don’t have to be at the 5 star level, and it’s something I ask every new potential employee here at Otahuna is “what makes for a truly amazing travel experience to you?” And the people that can really articulate how those experiences have influenced them and made them pause and think, inevitably they’re the ones who are offered roles with us. The best experiences affect how you feel, and that’s what’s most extraordinary.
Click here for more “Numinous talks”