Four exceptional New Zealand employees within Choice hotels were celebrated with highly coveted awards at the tenth Choice Hotels Australasia annual conference in Melbourne this week.

The 2012 Champions of Choice Award recipients from New Zealand were: Olivier Lacoua, General Manager at Quality Hotel Wellington; Carlyn McClintock, Sales and Marketing Manager for Clarion Suites Highview; Wayne Darbyshire, General Manager for Quality Hotel Barrycourt; and Hammond Cardon, General Manager at Quality Hotel Lincoln Green.

Quality Hotel Wellington won a Gold Award in this year’s awards. The property also picked up a Gold Award along with the prestigious Quality Hotel Franchisee of the Year award in 2011.

A Choice Hotels Gold Award acknowledges excellence in such business areas as branding, marketing, customer relations, franchisor relations and training and development.

The Champions of Choice Awards recognise the contribution of key individuals from Choice Hotels’ 270 properties across Australasia who continually work to a high level and achieve outstanding results for their property.

Trent Fraser, Choice Hotels Australasia CEO, shares; “Champions of Choice Award winners are true ambassadors for Choice Hotels and we are very proud to celebrate their success at our annual awards presentation.”

“From a large pool of people at our 270 properties across Australasia, just 22 highly coveted Champions of Choice Awards are given to outstanding hotel employees each year.”

“We must also pay special mention to Olivier and his team at Quality Hotel Wellington who take home not only their second Gold Award in two years but the additional 2012 Champions of Choice accolade. It’s a real testament to the hard work and dedication to service the team continues to deliver each and every day,” says Fraser.