Working In a Magical Place : The People

Bo Baines
Bo is responsible for running the Meet and Greet for our guests arriving by boat from Picton and the coordination of all the maintenance contractors working on the facility.

In winter she works alone and in summer has 3 porters working with her to transport all the guests bags and freight to and from other resorts in the Sounds. Bo is also responsible for the resort recycling program.

Bo came to Picton 16 years ago to own and operate a successful retail business for 4 years. Since then she has enjoyed her roles as a Wine Tour Guide, Hotel Front Office Manager and Wedding/Conferences Co-ordinator.

Chef de Parti

Satish Chand
Satish is now in his third year at the hotel. He started as an apprentice chef and has been training under Chef John Finlayson.

He has gained experience across our a la carte restaurant, both dinner and breakfast as well as the Snapper Cafe.

Chef John is also a keen breadmaker so Satish has also gained experience in bread and pie making.

Satish is from Fiji and lives on site at the hotel. In Fiji he completed his certificate IV in hospitality at Training & Productivity of Authority of Fiji. He worked as trainee chef at Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Island Resort before he joined our team three years ago.

Wedding & Functions Coordinator - permanent

Kaye Richards
Kaye is responsible for organising all the weddings at the hotel, working closely with the Bride & Groom to plan their great day.

Each year we have around 10-14 weddings at The Portage.

Kaye also organises family celebrations, conferences and functions.

Kaye is originally from the UK and now a resident of New Zealand with her partner. In the UK she worked as both a Deputy manager and manager of small country house hotels. Kaye visited New Zealand 2006 and loved it so much she has made the Marlborough Sounds to her new home.

Waiter – Te Weka Restaurant

Baptiste
Baptiste works in our Food & Beverage team both in the evenings in Te Weka Restaurant and also on breakfast.

Breakfast is one of our busiest times in the restaurant as our guests are off walking the Queen Charlotte Track or outdoors doing activities so they are looking for fast, quality service and good sustainable food. Baptiste brings a very professional skill to the role.

Baptiste is from France and is here for the summer season with his girlfriend Sylvaine who works in F&B and housekeeping.

He studied hospitality at a French catering school and worked in a lot of quality restaurants before coming to the Portage.