Bleisure trips and a big year ahead: Tim Alpe’s year in review

Every year, StopPress catches up with a group of talented professionals from across the local industry to talk about the year that was. From their biggest challenges to their biggest inspiration, their favourite campaigns and favourite snacks, they give us a little insight into 2024 as well as what is to come in 2025.

Tim Alpe is Managing Director of LyLo.

If LyLo was a drink, what would they be? 

I can tell you exactly what drink LyLo would be as we have a signature cocktail at our LyLo bar, Miss Lucy’s. The drink is called ‘Love Potion 54’, made from vodka, dragonfruit, Redbull and ice, served in an old school milk bottle. It’s sweet, pink and definitely gets the party started! 

What were the biggest trends that you saw in tourism and the hospitality industry in 2024 and how did these impact your businesses? 

One of the biggest trends we are seeing is the large volume of solo travellers, especially females, staying at our properties. This began post-COVID and continues to increase each year. We have designed our LyLo properties to cater to solo female travellers, with female-only POD rooms and daily events such as yoga, quiz nights and cocktail-making classes, especially designed to help meet other travellers. This increase of solo travellers means the overall experience at LyLo needs to be more than just a bed, so we cater to guests desires to connect with like-minded travellers, in a safe, clean and welcoming environment.  

We have also seen an increase in guests taking “Bleisure” trips, combining travel and business. All our LyLo’s are designed to ensure guests can work from anywhere on the property, with Wi-Fi available, multiple powerpoints and plenty of seating space. Some guests will work for a few hours, go skiing in Queenstown, and then return and jump back into work.  

Lastly, with cost of living pressures across many demographics, we’ve seen a wider range of guests consider budget-orientated properties like LyLo as attractive accommodation option. 

Did you notice any key differences in how Kiwis interacted with LyLo this year? 

We have seen an increase in local New Zealanders staying at LyLo properties, especially when there were events in town such as Coldplay or All Blacks rugby matches. Whilst New Zealand is still in recovery to pre-Covid tourist numbers, it is encouraging to see strong domestic demand, especially when events are on in the major cities. It is critical that local councils, especially Auckland, secure big events in 2025 and beyond as they are critical to delivering a stable tourism and hospitality industry.  

Did you use AI this year? If so, what and how did you use it and how did it impact your work? 

We are excited about the opportunity that AI presents and have started to integrate it into aspects of our business. We have an AI chatbot on LyLo.com which has improved our timely communication with guests. We have started using Microsoft Copilot to manage our note-taking across the business which has driven effeciency and collaboration. There is further potential for AI to assist in analysing guest reviews for repetitive themes, allowing LyLo to evolve our offering to meet customer needs, whilst improving our guests’ communications. Although there is nervousness on the role of AI in hospitality, for a budget-oriented business such as LyLo, AI can deliver considerable cost-efficiencies. For the record, AI didn’t answer these questions! 

What office item/tool could you not work without? 

Teams! Without Microsoft Teams I would never be able to spend any time at home. LyLo operates in multiple cities and countries, and we require fast and ongoing access to our colleagues. As a critical part of my role, I travel extensively and use Teams to communicate with our crew around the world, including for quick chats, online meetings and document sharing. 

What was your favourite tourism/holiday trend this year? 

I love that people are seeing more value in Return on Experience (ROE) than Return on Investment (ROI). Our guests are more interested in getting out and experiencing all they can in the neighbourhood, such as hiking, art galleries, boat cruises and skiing, rather than spending all night out and sleeping the next day. This is a significant change from when I was in my 20’s and 30’s travelling the world. Health and wellness certainly take a greater priority with a lot of our customers these days which is why we also offer walking groups and yoga classes at some of our properties. 

I just saw your LinkedIn post about the great airport dash – seven minutes to get through to the arrivals hall is extraordinary. Can you tell us what your biggest travel challenge was of 2024?   

I love a challenge and have enjoyed seeing how fast I can exit an airport! My latest stop was in Bali, which unfortunately took a lot longer than 7 minutes. My biggest challenge in 2024 was getting my head around how last-minute people are booking their travel. We are seeing a lot of our bookings come in last minute, which can provide operational and planning challenges. These delayed bookings mean we have had to adapt our sales strategy, especially as we expect this trend to continue. 

What helped you stay motivated? 

One word – Covid! The pandemic devastated our industry and is now my greatest motivation to keep driving forward. We have loved launching the new LyLo brand and our properties in Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown and Brisbane and can’t wait to see where else we can take LyLo. We have several exciting new projects happening, and we are fortunate that our parent company, EVT, is very enthusiastic about the growth of LyLo. 2025 is going to be a massive year! 

What does 2025 hold for your industry? 

I am excited about 2025 as I do believe New Zealand tourism will continue to return to what it was pre-pandemic. We still have some challenges to overcome, mainly in terms of competition from other destinations such as Thailand and South America, but I feel the lure of our beautiful country is still there and we should see a stronger 2025.

Quick fire 10 

1. Most memorable local campaign? 

   Best place in the world to have herpes by Motion Sickness. They did such a great job with an interesting subject.

2. Best international campaign? 
   
   I loved Thredbo Resorts “Unleash your Inner Wild” campaign, which was designed to showcase how amazing Thredbo Alpine Resort can also be during the summertime. They used incredible imagery to perfectly capture the array of activities you can participate in when the snow disappears, which isn’t always top of mind for travellers. 
3. A campaign you wish you worked on? 
   
   The Thredbo campaign.  
4. A news story that got too much attention in 2024? 
   
   The US Election, but let’s not go there!
5. Biggest flop of 2024? 
   
   Not being able to secure Taylor Swift in New Zealand. 
6. The best movie you saw at the cinema? 
   
   Gladiator 2 – loved it! 
7. The best thing about your industry? 
   
   Easy, our industry is all about excitement and adventure and meeting amazing people. 
8. How do you relax? 
   
   That’s my Achilles heel. I would say golf, but anyone who plays golf knows it’s far from relaxing. I would have to say a long lunch with great mates.  
9. Three things you’d take to a desert island? 
   
   My wife Amy, a fishing rod and dental floss. Flossing every day keeps the dentist away.  
10. Your favourite snack? 
    
    Copper Kettles chips and good old Kiwi dip (onion soup + reduced cream).

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