THL - Tourism Holdings

[Snoopy]

(I hired) an 'Explore' rental car from THL combined with an 'Explore' rental tent! I was expected inside at the THL desk in Auckland by 5pm.

It was around ten past five when I eventually got to the fortunately still open office of THL. My tent 'hamper' exceeded all expectations: A huge chilli bin of pots pans, plates jugs and utensils. Exactly the same big box as is supplied to the campervan customers I think. I also got a decent sleeping bag and a duvet that I could use as a ground mattress (being summer and all). But the tent itself, oh dear!

No instructions, no guy ropes and a distinct shortage of tent pegs and no hammer! I was given a beehive type tent with two carbon rod arch frames, but no end pieces. Fortunately I had the foresight to bring my own hammer, and I was able to bash the carbon rod ends directly into the ground. I used what tent pegs I had to create a floppy structure that was enough to shelter from the elements for the night. If a storm had brewed up I think my tent would have collapsed though! I am fairly sure I was the joke of the campground. Although given what I had to work with I thought I had come up with something that 'Mcgyver' would have been proud of. Fortunately my travel plan had me returning to the airport briefly the next day. There I was able to pick up some of the missing tent pieces. But imagine if I had been a tourist setting off on a grand tour of the North Island. My THL camping experience would have been a disaster!

In summary my second THL 'consumer experience' found nothing wrong with the staff I encountered on the ground. But there were a couple of 'system failures' in there which must be cause for concern. I hope for the sake of shareholders THL can get themselves sorted out before World Cup year.

One year on I repeated my THL rental car and tent trip. First thing I noticed was that the Airport office now closed at 4pm. Probably a good way to make sure that all the paperwork was done and dusted by 5pm. This time I arrived at a not quite so frenetic 2:30pm.

Rather than wait in a queue, I was directed to a self check in screen, part of a row of such screens. I thought this new system was quite a good innovation. Nobody likes waiting, but if 'while they wait' they can be busied entering and confirming their own contract details this eases the waiting pain.

Then my tent arrived, a brand new one! The tent box said for four people, but only a family of sardines would be happy with that description. In any event the tent was only promted as a two person unit. Complete with an outside vestibule, plus foam rolls to put under the sleeping bags and an extra outside hammock (!), no one could complain it wasn't a complete camping package. The tent instructions were sewn into the tent bag itself, so no chance of being 'lost' this time. The only thing missing was a mallet for the tent pegs, but I was able to improvise by putting a heavy stone inside my shoe. I can report the tent was well watertight too, as it rained heavily every night.

The rental car itself presented on paper as a bit of a wreck. When I looked at the actual car, it presented much better than on paper. The girl behind the counter I think was overzealous on noting the damage, much of which were the kind of surface paint scrapes you might expect on a ten year old rental car. In practice the car performed very well, and I returned it with no more additions to be made to the damaged paper artwork.

In general, I couldn't have found the staff more cheerful and helpful. They even printed me out a google map showing the fine detail of where I wanted to get to. If my one experience is representative, it does look like THL are on the right track, service wise, for world cup year. This was a big improvement!

SNOOPY

[minimoke]

Yikes
When profit downgrades are worsened and banking covenants in breach their is only one place for eh SP to go today!

[macduffy]

Small correction, belg.

Non-earning and depreciating.

[Stranger_Danger]

Man this company is a dog. Never owned it, never will.

[winner69]

Man this company is a dog. Never owned it, never will.

and those visitor numbers and tourism outlook reports were looking so good .... ha ha

Man o man --- losing money again .... or have they ever made any real money?

If any body ever wants a brief history of world events just read THL (sorry they prefer the lower case thl now .. my apologies) reports .... from Sydney Olympics to 9/11 to financial crises to earthquakes to floods to rugby world cups and even more rugby world cups and all the other excuses ... history lesson for all

I fear even another go at new management or restructuring won't work ... thl is really past redemption ... thl is broken ... bankers need to put it out of its misery

Bet shareholders who have been holding for a while regret they didn't let the aussies have it for 280 or something a few years ago ... was it really 280

[minimoke]

and those visitor numbers and tourism outlook reports were looking so good .... ha ha

We've just had friends from overseas visit and they spent three weeks going around teh south island. Observations:
- food an OK price. (so not a drawcard)
- Eating out is an OK price ((so not a draw card)
- Maori are proud of their roots (so no racial disharmony to spoil a visit)
- talking to locals in non-touristy areas was a highlight (its the non-tourist sector that provided a highpoint)
- They went on virtually every tourist thing there was to do (except bungy jumping). - Some prices were OK but some like quad bike riding at $250 a person way over the top. Most things they could have done at home but because it was just down the road they didn't bother (so our adventure tourism isn't that unique)
- They rented a Juicy vehicle out of Europe for the best price.
- Most importantly - where ever they went there no queues. It was straight onto the attraction. (where are the tourists??)

[winner69]

Record number of tourists in December

So says the paper today .... and hey there does seem to be a negative correlation between tourist numbers and THL shareprice

Hpe a record number of tourists doesn't lead to a record low shareprice eh

[bull....]

I forgot to say I wont be looking to try my strategy fully untill closer to world cup as I do not see this year being very good for THL probably a full year loss.

Always said this year would be bad for them and that long term they are destined to failure due to their strategy.
I dont even think ill try my short term strategy now as RWC probably wont save the rot.

[POSSUM THE CAT]

The INCREASE in GST made NZ a less desirable place to visit & some idiots want to increase it some more. And January would be when it started to hit People booking in October where looking at the increase the GST had on the cost of visiting NZ. Then they looked at alternatives. Is This what has happened to THL.

[minimoke]

Is This what has happened to THL.

I doubt it it. If visitor numbers are up THL should be benefiting. If Rugby world cup is supposed to be a boomer year THL should benefit. If I look on the roads all I see are Juicy and Wicked branded vehicles. In the past travelling through central was a real pain because of all the Maui camper vans - but I saw none this year. What I have seen is loads of them parked up in yards. Juicy by all accounts is really taking off. Strikes me that THGL haven't moved with the times.

We could perhaps blame the increase in GST, but we should also look at the NZ$ - we aren't a cheap destination anymore.The friends mentioned above probably spent $20 - $30k - for that sort of money I couldn't recommend NZ as a destination.