Gordon began his career as a cadet valuer with Housing Corporation of New Zealand before joining Palmerston North City Council as Assistant City Valuer.  Following this he began practicing as a registered public valuer with S. George Nathan & Co.

In 1983 Gordon set up practice as GR McGregor and Associates which became McGregor Sellars & Co. a well regarded valuation firm. This company was sold to CBRE with Gordon heading up the Wellington sales team before moving to Auckland and setting up Resort Brokers New Zealand. 

How did you get into the hotels industry?

The pathways that lead to my involvement were unusual. I began my professional career as a registered public valuer and set up my own business in 1983.  This valuation practice became very successful and accounted for much of the Corporate work in Wellington.  

With two partners, we took on a Richard Ellis franchise and developed a real estate sales arm, which I managed.  In 1996, we sold the business to CBRE and as part of the deal I was appointed Director of Hotel and Leisure for New Zealand and shifted to Auckland.  The Managing Director at the time and I concluded most of the major hotel sales leading up to and after the shift to Auckland and we dominated sales within New Zealand. 

By 2002 the volume of sales had diminished so my now business partner, Wayne Keene and I set up Resort Brokers New Zealand to extend our operations into all segments of the market, including the lower and middle end.  So it was not a direct path and you could say that I pretty much fell into the role – but I could not have planned it better if I tried.

What are some of your career highlights from your time in the industry?

Most people would want to brag about their big sales when asked about highlights however I must say I have got more satisfaction out of some of the smaller transactions because this is where you get the buzz. You are dealing with real people and satisfying their wishes.  

At the end of the day, large deals are wonderful for bolstering the bottom line but often lack personal reward/gratification.

What are the biggest issues facing the hotel industry at the moment?

The elephant in the room is the OTA’s.  I’m afraid that the horse has bolted and it is too late to effectively counter their influence in the market.  However, we can only hope that Governments around the world will recognise the threats to profitability and outlaw market parity requirements.  

Despite this, the free market will always allow competition and over time the two major participants will be taken on.  This may well force down commission rates to acceptable levels.  Every dollar spent on the OTA takes a dollar off the bottom line.  However, businesses are valued after deducting commissions so the influence has already been valued in todays pricing.

How has the industry changed in the time you have been involved with it?

I remember sending faxes off to mainly Singaporean investors regarding hotels I had for sale in the early 1990’s.  Feeling very clever in that I used a program which sent the faxes after midnight – this had two effects with the most important being that the recipients thought I worked into the small hours of the morning and therefore admired my work ethic but my primary motive was to save telephone toll bills.  

So the world started speeding up with the introduction of faxes but with the advent of emails demand for instant information and responses accelerated.  As a broker, demands have increased significantly but changes for our clients have been equally significant.  Reliance on AA and Jason’s books guiding travellers in the past and main road frontage advantage has all gone out the window.  Now its all about website exposure/profile and online booking.  

Hard to imagine what will be next but I am reasonably certain that people will continue to travel and this trend will grow.  Travel and accommodation have a bright future, especially with aging populations around the world and growing affluence of large population groups like India and China.

What changes would you like to see over the next two to five years in the industry?

I would love to see the mainstream operators in the motel industry take on some of the sophistication found in the hotel industry so that they get a better understanding of the opportunities available to them based on a better understanding of their operations and market place.

What is your favourite hotel and holiday destination?

I am really old fashioned in my tastes for hotels but most importantly I choose them on the level of service not amenity.  So long as the hotel is really clean and the staff recognise me as a person I am a 'happy chappie'.  So just about any hotel/motel can make me happy – it’s really just up to the staff/operator/manager.

See also:

Get to know Trudy Crooks, National Sales Manager of Resort Brokers Australia

Get to know Dean Humphries of Colliers International

Get to know Ian Crooks