Lion Hospo Awards for Excellence go virtual

The 2021 Lion Hospitality Awards for Excellence event will now be held online on 23 November, due to COVID restrictions.

The awards, hosted by Hospitality New Zealand, recognise businesses and individuals across the accommodation, and food and beverage sectors for their work and commitment to excellence in their field. Hospitality NZ says a record number of entries were received this year.

The Awards were due to be held in Auckland on the 23rd as part of the Hospitality Summit, which has been postponed to a date to be decided next year. Last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The Awards will now be live-streamed from a cocktail event in Wellington to a number of other venues around the country.

With the Awards scaled down to an online event, Lion is contributing $30,000 to the Help for Hospo fund set up to support hospitality workers struggling in the COVID environment.

CEO Julie White says Hospitality New Zealand is very disappointed the awards could not be held in person after such a tough 18 months for the industry, but has thanked sponsors for their continued support. “I want to make a special shout-out to our main sponsor, Lion New Zealand, and all the category sponsors, who have been amazing and are continuing to support this celebration of our industry.”

Links to the live awards event will be available closer to the date.

W: Finalists are on the Hospitality New Zealand website