{"id":21893,"date":"2011-05-27T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/fiji-orchid-blooms-3\/"},"modified":"2011-05-27T08:50:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T08:50:00","slug":"fiji-orchid-blooms-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2011\/05\/fiji-orchid-blooms-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiji Orchid Blooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HM MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE BY RODERICK EIME IN FIJI<\/p>\n

In a scene reminiscent of that \u201880s beer commercial \u201cThey said you\u2019d never make it\u201d, Jenny and Peter Bourke built their dream of luxury Fiji on a run-down remote island in the middle of nowhere that no one wanted to touch.<\/p>\n

Fiji born and bred, Jenny, reels in laughter when she recalls her first ITB in Berlin 20 years ago when she masqueraded as a Tahitian to poach business leads from the better prepared French Polynesians.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hilarious,\u201d she says, her normally serene demeanor breaking into a girlish giggle, \u201cI came to the biggest travel show in the world with a box of brochures and no idea. \u2018What have you got me into!\u2019 I screamed at my husband. But I learned quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDan Costello (Fiji Beachcomber and doyen of Fiji hospitality) famously said to me \u2018You know nothing about the industry. How on earth do you think you\u2019re going to make it work?\u201d<\/p>\n

The saga of Nukubati Island is well known in hospitality circles, and it\u2019s a story with a happy ending. Tripadvisor now rates the all-inclusive private island resort 100% positive with a 2011 Travellers\u2019 Choice award to boot.<\/p>\n

But Jenny and Peter couldn\u2019t rest on their laurels and the Fiji Orchid was born. Not as a swank resort or destination spa, but as a comfortable transit lodge just a few minutes from Nadi airport for guests on their way to or from an outer island experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs so many of these stories start, it began with a coincidence,\u201d Jenny told HM. \u201cI was working with Don Burness, the horticulturalist, on gardens for Nukubati while he was living in the old Raymond Burr house on Saweni Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, this place was divine. Okay, needed some work, but the potential was immediate and I said almost playfully to Don \u2018If you ever want to sell \u2026\u2019 and well, 12 years later I bought it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple began to transform the two main buildings into dining and reception areas and added six luxury bures. The formal opening was in early 2010 and already the Fiji Orchid has gathered glowing reviews. Among the five acres of lavish gardens (with orchids, of course) there\u2019s a pool, the 20-seat Raymond\u2019s Restaurant, bar, lounge, ornate meeting room and a small spa treatment bure. The property even has its own helipad for guests transferring to private islands.<\/p>\n

The back story is of course the Raymond Burr connection. The Canadian-born actor, best known for his TV dramas, Perry Mason and Ironside, was a keen gardener with interests in wine and art. His love of Fiji was part climate and part seclusion. Like so many Hollywood types of the \u201850s and \u201860s, they craved privacy and in Fiji, no one knew him. Here he could relax and be with his long-time partner away from prying eyes and gossiping tongues. His handsome portrait hangs in the restaurant with an obvious look of approval.<\/p>\n

Jenny\u2019s very personal style of hospitality extends to the way she conducts business and she has largely eschewed the online travel agents, working mainly through \u2018traditional channels\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows how things work in cycles here in Fiji,\u201d says Jenny, who has formal qualifications in economics, \u201cand even when others are slashing rates we stick to ours. Sure, we\u2019ll value-add, but we won\u2019t discount. I\u2019d rather suffer the short term pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenny admits she\u2019ll be using online distribution shortly, but with strict channel management. For now there is no urgency as occupancy is exceeding expectations.<\/p>\n

Single or double day rooms are FJD$350 + tax for seven hours or FJD$550 + tax for overnight with a 12 noon checkout. Includes transfers to Nadi airport, Denarau or Lautoka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HM MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE BY RODERICK EIME IN FIJI In a scene reminiscent of that \u201880s beer commercial \u201cThey said you\u2019d never make it\u201d, Jenny and Peter Bourke built their dream of luxury Fiji on a run-down remote island in the middle of nowhere that no one wanted to touch. Fiji born and bred, Jenny, reels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiji"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}