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Fae Robertson: Crafting Queenstown's Tourism Landscape Over 65 Years

• Brent Harbour • Season 2

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How did a young girl from Invercargill become a legendary figure in Queenstown's tourism industry? Meet Fae Robertson, whose 65-year-long career began with an audacious move to Queenstown in 1957. Fae shares her journey from a convent school to a rougher local one and reveals how a travel apprenticeship ignited her lifelong passion for tourism. Despite her parents' initial resistance, Fae's determination paved the way for a career brimming with memorable experiences and transformative industry changes. Join us as Fae recounts the myriad challenges she faced, from booking the last ensuite at Milford Hotel to dealing with quirky bus seat requests. Through her stories, you'll see Fae's creative problem-solving skills in action and learn how technological advancements reshaped her role in the hospitality industry. Despite the hurdles posed by tech-driven operations, Fae underscores the irreplaceable value of strong interpersonal skills in maintaining customer satisfaction.

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Speaker 1:

The Outlet. The talk of Queenstown.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Outlet. I'm your host, brent Harbour. In this podcast I chat with Faye Robertson, a legend in Queenstown's tourism industry with an impressive 65-year career. We explore Faye's journey from the beginning, the significant changes in the industry and her memorable experiences with tourists, plus her future plans for retirement.

Speaker 1:

For the latest local news, sport, information and entertainment, download the Queenstown app. This is the Outlet.

Speaker 2:

Hi, Faye, welcome to the Outlet podcast. Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here Now. Can you please talk me through how it all started with you and tourism? What prompted your passion for the industry, Faye? Yes, I'm very spoiled.

Speaker 3:

It came from coming to Queenstown from Invercargill in 1957, from a very lovely convent school which is a good Catholic school. It does turn out, ladies when I think that's what they hoped for. So when I arrived in Queenstown and my family, we were sent to Walker Department School and it was extremely rough and no manners, no courtesies. It was really rude and I was very, very uncomfortable. So I survived it for about 16 months and then I saw a note in the paper which said a travel apprentice wanted and it was a three-year apprenticeship in an office, and I thought well, tourism, that's people and I love people and my mum's given me a happy heart. I think I could work with people. So I applied for the job and two weeks later a letter arrived at home and of course my mother said um, that's not from your pen, pal, where did you get that there? So where's the problem? And I opened it and read it, you see, and I said oh, mother, I'm sorry, but um, I've actually got a job. And she said no child of mine is going to go to a bakery for a living. You have got to get a good education and a proper job. I said, mum, I've got an apprenticeship. And I passed her the letter and she read it at the table and said to my dad and she said we'll need to discuss this. She said we'll tell Faye in the morning.

Speaker 3:

But it was the longest night I had ever had because I thought, dear God, I'm not going to be allowed to go. But there were two rules. One you do not wear nylons until you're 16 and there'll be no dating boys till you're 17. And I'm thinking what have they got to do with my girls? I'm already focused on where I'm going and when. I'm really looking forward to learning and I thought, oh, but, being a good child, I thank you very gratefully.

Speaker 3:

But I found the desire to learn was absolutely exciting and the people were really lovely. I was really small because I could hardly reach the counter to learn my craft and it was a government office with five individual desks so I had to learn what each department was for and I really loved the learning and we just did basically sightseeing in Queenstown, a little bit of Milford, and if there was anything out of town then you had to do your homework on it. Everything was done manually so there was just telephone and pads to write your things on. So it was very basic when you look back on it now, but it was very much people-related. So everything you did was caring for somebody and I had a lovely desire to learn, which really set things going well.

Speaker 3:

What they did for us to learn was they'd take us on what they called holiday, so you'd go out and you'd travel on the buses and you'd travel on the trains and they put you in quite nice hotels in those days. They were government ones like Wairaraki and Mount Cook and the Milford Sound, and you were only a kid when you think of it Wairaraki and Mount Cook and the Milford Sound and you're only a kid when you think of it. So here you are in this posh hotel, but you've got to keep the accommodation. Was this musical nice? Did the manager run a nice hotel? What sort of service were they giving? So you came back with knowledge of all these places that people may want to book. So by the time we'd been through about three of those, we really got to know a lot about our own coffee, which was really good, and I found it really, you know, fascinating.

Speaker 3:

But one of the ones I went to was the Wairaraki Hotel and if I came in, the manager said, oh, you are the cadet. And I said yes. And he said do you like rock and rolling? I said, oh, I love it, I'm a singer. And he said, oh well, give the barman the night off. Well, I said, yeah, that's perfect.

Speaker 3:

So, lo and behold, dinner was served and I went back to the little bar dance room and this quite handsome young man came over and introduced himself and he said I'm looking after you this evening. And he asked me did I rock and roll? I said yes, I compete in rock and roll. Oh, he said I like it as well. But I thought why did that manager give me the barman for the night? It's always the dance partner. But I thought why, being a curious mind, and what happened was by about 11 o'clock at night, when the band was winding down, the manager was on top of the piano dancing as drunk as a cockatoo, and I thought no wonder he gave me the barman. He thought he'd divert me. I wouldn't see what he was up to.

Speaker 3:

So, even at 16 or 17, you're learning a clock factory in Whangarei, and we went in and it was a complete shop with the most amazing clocks you've ever seen. And you went round and this person told you each clock age time what it was made from, where it came from and honestly I do not lie, she got to the ending and it was like she didn't say thank you or goodbye or whatever. She stopped dead and stood and it was like someone had unwound her and I and stood and it was like someone had unwound her and I thought what have I learned from this? And I learned we were selling the likes of shop over jeepies in a no day and I thought I learned when I sell something, I know I have to still believe in it and tell the person, people about it that I actually would like to buy it. So often when you were doing stuff, you learned that you didn't expect. It was really quite fascinating.

Speaker 2:

So can you share maybe one of your most memorable or amusing experiences that you had with the tourist fay?

Speaker 3:

One of them was at the very beginning and the other one was actually. This was just a little one. This little lady came into my counter and she said could she have accommodation in Milford Hotel? Well, I'd just done the tourist thing. Here's me thinking I know my stuff. So I said yes, it's a two rooms, darling, and an ensuite, if you don't mind. And it was a pretty lady with a little lavender hat on and gloves and a handbag, the whole bit on the counter. So I rang through to the Milford Hotel and the voice at the other end of the phone said I'm very sorry, faye, we've only got one ensuite left. So I came back to the friend, said I'm very sorry, faye, we've only got one en suite left. So I came back to the lady and said I'm very, very sorry, they've only got one en suite. Oh, she said that's fine. She said yeah, we're friends.

Speaker 3:

Well, you can imagine me first being a Catholic standing there and thinking I'm going to hell. I can't tell my mother that one. Oh, what am I going to say? Do your job and get on the phone and tell them you're taken. So I got across the phone. My hand shook when I wrote the ticket out for her to pay me and didn't dare tell my parents that I had committed what I thought in those days was an immortal sin. I mean, it wasn't my fault, that's how people live, but it was the first real test of life to me anyway. So that's what you call an unexpected one when it goes to that.

Speaker 3:

And the other one is I don't know if you've ever travelled on buses, but notoriously we had to take over the steamer walk when our business was privatised, so we had the clock tower at the top and we had the intercity railway bus at the bottom, and so I was put down there to teach them how to sell sightseeing, because they hadn't done any of that. And I got very, very tired of the very early morning shift and people would say, oh, I get bus seat, can I have the front seat? And I'm thinking I can't do that many bus seats. And then one morning I had eight and I thought this is, this is no joke, I'm smiling, how can I help? I thank you for your name, your seat such and such, and honestly, I had eight of them going to beg the driver for the front seat. There's only four of them. I thought what can I do.

Speaker 3:

So I said we've got this new bus that we're trying to design. I said it's got 38 seats long ways. The view going around the Kingston Road is outstanding. It's a little bit nerve-wracking because eight passengers are on the roadside and the other 30 are over the lake view. It's a bit like gliding. And they said, oh, we'll stay on the standards bus. But you know, sometimes you had seats and then I had one with the actual, another one a day, because I'm not a morning person, I'm a night owl. So I've been really nice in the morning. It really has to be an act, you know.

Speaker 3:

So this particular day I thought, oh God, not only am I teaching people who don't want to learn sightseeing to get off their bums and sell, I've now got people on the counter again who don't want to sit in the back. So I said look, we've got this new little sticker that you could put behind your ears. I don't mind you testing it for the day for Milford. But I said it's under trial. So it is only a trial, because we've just done the windows for the winter festival and I had all these little stickies left over. They were about the size of the end of your pen. So I gently handed them across the counter and I put them behind your ears and off.

Speaker 3:

They went to my wife of the day when, after the eight, six came back the next day to ask me what was I going to do with it, because it worked, wow. So I poked at the light ring. I said, oh look, there hasn't been paint in here. But thank you so much for experimenting. It's given us a great deal of knowledge and managed to keep the giggles away until they left the job. Wow. So that was a couple of minority episodes. I'm sorry you don't need people like me in the business.

Speaker 2:

you see, oh no, I think that's perfect. So what were some of the challenges that you faced during your career, Faye, and how did you overcome them?

Speaker 3:

Well, the actual, obvious one was the growth of technology, because once you start to take away the people-to-people contact and bear in mind your systems were fully manual, like I would get a ring from the girls at Auckland and my phone had shoulder clips on them, so you'd take the call and put your phone on your shoulder while you dialed on your other phone to who you were going to get the accommodation or the sightseeing from, and they would wait on the line Right, so it was completely shoulder to shoulder, and then you would write a confirmation slip about the confirmation of accommodation or the site thing and then you manually posted that night. So once you start to bring technology in, you have to be very careful, because we were dealing with people who didn't speak English. Sometimes we had picture books for that, we had good browsers, but it was quite a large transition from that to being able to, you know, do your job and do it well, which was really difficult. We found that we had to take it very carefully and we had to really up our people skills because you really had to make them see that the technology was, that you knew something about it. And the hardest thing was we got people coming in who were technicians but they'd never sold a ticket.

Speaker 3:

Like I would say to them can you tell me? Because if I sold you the shop over debt and I decided you'd helicopter into Skippers and you'd raft out on the river, you know, on the raft that would be your triple for the afternoon, the triple challenge it was called. So I said to this very clever man thank you very much for coming, but could you tell me I've just had a notice to say that the helicopter can't drive through windy. How do I refund the helicopter portion? I just want to pay for two now, not three. Oh, he said that won't happen. I said it just did. So he realised he had to sit with us and see what we were doing. He was brilliant on the technology but not on the practicalities. So that was a real challenge to actually turn it over.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's that insider knowledge that you had to help with that right.

Speaker 3:

Yes, so they had to access it with us and learn what we did and why. And even today it's not happening. That's one of the fallbacks on technology today is that the ones who want you to go direct have their own system. And if you went skiing and I go into a ski system, I would have to tell you, say you've got five family come to me and say hey, we're going to ski. I'd have to take each person's name, phone number, age, height, ski ability, learning or whatever, and fill it in. I'd have to do them all separately and then bring them over to my system and take a payment, and that could take me 15 minutes. In the meantime, the queues are waiting Now. If they'd come and sat in our office once, they'd never do that.

Speaker 2:

They've got somebody in the shop that's only doing that, which is fine, but not when you've got a multi-office and lots of people to deal with at once, right, yeah, yeah, terrible. Can you also tell me about your training in body language and you had some experience, too, with victim support and how that helped you in your role as a travel consultant?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, when you're, apart from being in the hubbub, you're in the travel centre. I always had a wide desire to learn, so I've actually been doing continuous courses since I was about 21 on body language, on communication skills, international training, communications. I've had exams on communication dynamics, so I've got a wide knowledge of public work, how to run meetings and how to prepare speeches. I have my own upfront planning business aside from my office job, so I've got a good background in people skills and I actually taught the Kiwi Host program, which was for the communication. So when I started to work in the body language field, I suddenly realized that I was asked to come into victim support and teach them listening skills, because we're dealing often here with multi-languages and they wanted us to hear and see how we could help them in a moment that is very, very, very gentle but very supportive. And if you've got a language barrier, how do you know what you're looking at and how do you know how to help? So I took the body language in there so that they could read and see what they were seeing, because you do trust your instincts to some extent and your other skills are very well trained in, but there's still that knowledge that they need to understand what we're doing for them and that they feel comfortable, because sometimes it takes a while to get an interpreter and you can put an interpreter on a police line for them, but that's very cold to put you on a police line for them, but that's very cold. So if they can, we can support in that particular field and give them something. So we might, for a simple thing, we'd have a beautiful little teddy, or sometimes we'd have the spot dog from the post office gave us, you know, a lovely black and white spot dog and I'd say and not to know that, would they pass it to them to hold? You'd find that coverlet and then you'd pour it to the tea and coffee and you'll be reading do they want something to eat or drink, are they warm? And so we did all the body language movements so they could see what we were watching and we understood them. So it's a very good help and it also helps you dealing with people who are here I say naughty customers who are very growling, because you can leave it coming in and you can defuse it and it's a very good skill to own and you can make money out of it, which is even better, because I vowed in the early days that I would use it for customers that came in exceptionally and upset, of course, because they are but angry at something, not at me, to defuse it. I would use my body language and I would say things like if you've got a second to somewhat.

Speaker 3:

We would say I want a flight to Milford, and you could see the wife standing behind, looking very uncomfortable, and I said, oh, good morning. Would you like to take the bus or a plane Plane? Oh, I said that's nice. Would you like to sit inside or out? And he looked at me and he said and he looked at me and he said, oh, inside. And I said well, did you want one with an engine or without? And he looked at me and he said oh, no, no, he said I prefer an engine. I thought, well, just hold a minute, I'll ring the girls and see who's got the best deal.

Speaker 3:

So by this case, the wife had me a wee grin behind her. So then he says well, actually, he said those prices aren't bad, I'll take it. He didn't even talk to the wife, or not. And then the next thing he said was what's the weather going to be like tomorrow? I said oh well, I have to check this out with your wife. And he said pardon. I said if you're a good boy, we'll have a fine day, but if you're not, ta-da, no good weather for flying At this stage. The wife has got a six-foot grin on behind him. He can't. I went oh well, I suppose. I said could you make an effort, because your wife would have to fight and milk it. So then you paid me and you know I came back every day and bought something. Now all I was doing was thinking not a grumpy mum today, I just want somebody who's nice, it does, and look, we've all been there.

Speaker 2:

When we're travelling, sometimes you just get frustrated, but you shouldn't take it out on the people who are trying to help you out, should you?

Speaker 3:

You can have something, and I always found it clear that I'd make more money out of them once I got them down onto the money level.

Speaker 2:

Sounds like a perfect strategy to me, Faye. So now here you are, you're retiring, although it doesn't sound like you should be retiring. So what are your plans for the future? I mean, what do you hope to keep contributing to the community, Faye?

Speaker 3:

I love my community and I am quite involved, but I'm going to do more because I've had a couple of whoopsies lately and I've been very spoiled. I came out of hospital and Basket of Gleesons bought me the most beautiful seven-day meals to help Bob. Oh fuck, I have no idea who told them. It's one of the organisations I'm not in, but I'd like to be helpful with him, even if I'm also a volunteer. I do pastoral ministry with the church already and I'm one of the first group that was ever accepted and ordained and it was 2008. There were 21 of us did the study and 18 of us became ministers to help the priests, because they're very low on them. And then I worked for the Catholic Women's League after the Catholic Women's League and that's for the women in the school of St Joseph's. So I've got a lot of little bits I'm in, but just for my own pleasure.

Speaker 3:

I'm learning the piano. I've always been a singer in showbiz. I'm a live member and I thought in about time I learnt more than the tune I'm supposed to be singing. So I had the teachers out at the piano, which is good. Bumps got earplugs I've just bought them a pair there and line dancing I've always wanted to do so. When my back's okay, I'm going to learn line dancing. I can sing Maori quite well. You would never believe I don't speak it, so I'm going to learn a course of it on face-to-face. I can't do it online. I can't see well enough to work online, so I'm waiting for a spot to go into the beginner's class so that I can learn a little bit and then I can be more multicultural, as opposed to just being an Irish naughty girl.

Speaker 2:

Well, I just love the fact that you're continuing to learn stuff all the time, Faye. That is so brilliant. Can I just thank you for all the work you've done on the community and it's just been absolutely wonderful talking to you today.

Speaker 3:

Thank you very much for the time I had, sam, thank you.

Speaker 1:

On Buzzsprout, spotify, apple, wherever you get your podcasts. The Outlet, the talk of Queenstown.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening to the Outlet, your local interview podcast for Queenstown. Now, if you have a story or an interview you think should be featured on the Outlet podcast, please get in touch by using the contact button on your Queenstown app. The Outlet is produced and published by the Queenstown app and supported with funding from the New Zealand Public Interest Journalism Fund. All episodes of the Outlet are available on the podcast button on your Queenstown app and wherever you get your podcasts.