CHECK IN - Forging a new path for tourism.

Karmela Rapata and her sister Maria are redefining the hospitality experience with a unique concierge service based in Queenstown.

Check In offers a circular experience for visitors, bringing concierge services to those staying in short-term rental accommodation. Going beyond the traditional tourism offering, they help visitors to connect to the people and places that make Queenstown special.

Maria & Karmela - Founders of Check In

SQL: Tell us about your background and how Check In came to be.

Karmela: Maria and I were brought up in Southland, raised on a foundation of manaakitanga; our door was always open, and we were the centre of the village – all the kids were at our house, and Mum used to have kai on the table all the time.

We both got into tourism and hospitality careers. I worked in inbound tourism for ten years in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and she worked in hotels and luxury accommodation.

Maria asked me to come home and help develop a new business, and at first, I said – no way! She started a full-service property care business, working with high-end clients when AirBnB started. Maria saw there was something missing with AirBnB – that concierge service and all the beautiful things you’re used to when you stay in a hotel. So I came home to help develop that side of the business.

We really care for people, we want to share that manaaki. People want welcome platters and bubbles on arrival, or their dry-cleaning taken care of, or a babysitter – all those things you’d get through a hotel concierge. But we wanted to do more than that, we wanted to incorporate a better connection between our people, our place, going beyond that typical tourism offering.

SQL: Why did you sign up for SQL events?

Karmela: We were ready to launch in January 2020… so we ended up attending all kinds of programmes and things because that’s what you did during Covid – you upskilled and you built networks.

When we launched our business [July 2020], they reached out to us. That was an awesome connection. They invited us to do the Kickstart Programme and we went on an amazing online journey, connecting with the experts and learning so much.

Elevate your stay with Check In holiday concierge services.

SQL: How did this help you?

Karmela: The community that Start-Up Queenstown Lakes has created is a group of founders who can reach out to each other. We have nothing to do with each other’s businesses, we do different things, but we’re on the same journey. We’re all turning awesome ideas into realities, and that’s a really beautiful space to be in.

It can be a lonely space being a founder. You go through a lot of challenges, and you have to ride the wave, but because you’ve got someone to bounce ideas off, it helps give meaning to those challenges and a community to celebrate the wins with.

I’ve loved meeting the other founders, it’s an inspirational and an aspirational group – it helps you see the bigger picture.

SQL: What are your next steps?

Karmela: At this very moment, we’re exploring a new phase for our business. It’s an interesting space because we’re in the ‘what are we actually doing?’ bit. We’ll keep Check In going in that tourism space, but we want to look at how we can connect globally. We want to create a global community using technology, but ultimately it’s all about people connecting more deeply.

SQL: Describe SQL in one word.

Karmela: Connection.

Story written by Startup Queenstown Lakes.