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VR Lofts Apartments on Shotover St in Queenstown.
Queenstown hotel and restaurant workers are spending hours making sure guests are up-to-date about the boil water notice issued by the local council amid an outbreak of cryptosporidium.
A boil water is in place for Queenstown’s businesses and residents following 30 confirmed cases of gastro sickness recorded until Sunday.
VR Lofts Queenstown’s general manager Mangal Behal said every one of their guests was reminded at check-in to boil water for at least a minute for drinking and other purposes.
His staff were spending at least three hours a day to making sure guests in all 24-rooms were kept up to date.
“Though we have put up instructions in suites’ kitchens for all the guests to boil water for all purposes, a major challenge is awareness.
”We get hundreds of guests from across the world, so we have to make sure they know how important it is to follow the instructions.
Supplied/Supplied
VR Lofts Queenstown’s general manager Mangal Behal says his staff is spending hours making sure all guests are well aware of the notice.
”To make it easier for guests, our staff speak to them at the time of check in and also assist them if they need any special arrangements to clean the water.
”Cleaners spend twice as much time cleaning dishes in the rooms.”
Behal said they had couples with young children who wanted bottled water.
”There are people who we have assisted with free-of-cost water bottles as they were quite concerned about even using boiled water.
”It is definitely an extra cost to make staff work for more hours, but for us the safety of guests is the most important.”
Behal appreciated the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s regular notifications and water bottle refill stations in the town.
”It is important for people to know where to refill the water from. I think it is being managed well now.”
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Club Pacific Queenstown notifies guests about the boil water notice.
The Rees Hotel chief executive Mark Rose agreed, saying he had seen an improvement in communication, “which was poor to start with”.
“Our staff is spending more time interacting with guests and that is making them [guests] feel quite comfortable. Our guests have been very understanding about it.
“We have got 625L of water containers that we are refilling. We are bringing water from Arrowtown where the water supply hasn’t been affected.
“Our coffee machine is up and running now. We have turned off the ice machines and ice is coming from outside the district.”
Rose said the hotel is currently 70% occupied with 30 cancellations amid the state of emergency [that was lifted on Saturday] and the cryptosporidium outbreak.
Rose said there’s definitely more work [as it might take months for the boil water notice to go down].
“It is a pain. It is extra work for us, but it is manageable. We have managed Covid, so we can manage anything.”
Queenstown Lakes District Council said there was no confirmed link that the water supply had been compromised, but it was taking a cautious approach.
The boil water notice affects all properties serviced by the council’s Queenstown supply including Frankton, Quail Rise and Tucker Beach Rd, Kelvin Heights and Hanley’s Farm.
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