A celebration of customer service

Finals night is a glitzy, fun affair for the Taupō business community.

Taupō's Stella Awards are back, with 47 finalists set to be narrowed down to 11 winners including a public vote category for the first time.  

The awards recognise businesses across the Taupō District that deliver outstanding customer experience at every point in the process — from the first social media scroll to the time the customer walks out the door.  

A full list of finalists is available below this story, and we also invited them to take part in the feature over the next nine pages, to showcase who they are and what makes them so special. 

The awards are designed to be more accessible than traditional business awards programmes, with a streamlined application process that still looks at how businesses manage the full customer journey.   

This year, the questions are harder to reflect how far local businesses have come since the awards began, but it’s still easy to enter for busy business owners.  

A public vote is a feature this year and anyone can vote for their favourite business in most categories.   

Voters need to write at least 20 words explaining why their chosen business deserves to win. The feedback is sent back to businesses to help them, regardless of whether they win.  

The Stellar Awards Celebration Evening is set for September 11, with comedian Ben Hurley serving as MC.   

The Stellar Awards differ from the Taupō Business Chamber's Business Awards, which run in alternate years.   

Where the Business Awards take a broad view of a company's performance, the Stellar Awards focus on the customer journey — from the moment someone lands on a business website or spots them on social media, right through to the final interaction.  

The public vote this year serves as an alternative to a mystery shop and was considered a nice way to seek feedback. 

To vote for your favourite business in each category head to stellaawards.co.nz/vote