News flash: Owen River Lodge is the world’s first B Corp-certified fishing lodge!

March 22, 2022

By Felix Borenstein

Well, this is a big one. B Corp certification is an internationally-recognised accreditation that measures a company’s social and environmental performance.

And getting it is tough. Really tough. The certification process involves being audited to assess an organisation’s impact across five key stakeholder areas: workers, customers, governance, environment and community—and a lot of businesses don’t make the cut. That’s why there are less than 5,000 B Corps in the entire world.

It’s been a long, difficult process but we learned earlier this week that we were successful.

Which means that Owen River Lodge is the first accommodation provider in New Zealand—and the first fishing lodge in the world—to be recognised as a Certified B Corporation, or B Corp.

Was it worth all the stress? Absolutely. Over the last 10 years, B Corp certification has become the global gold standard for measuring corporate social responsibility. That means Owen River Lodge is now rubbing shoulders with international brands like Patagonia, Ross Reels, Able and Fishpond.

What does Owen River Lodge’s B Corp certification mean for you?

It means the same as the other third-party accreditations that we’ve worked for and the numerous awards that we’ve won: it means that we walk the talk. That we’re trustworthy. That’s why we enter these things and jump through all the hoops—so when we say we care for our people, support our community, care for our environment, and are open and transparent about the way we do business, there’s proof that we’re telling the truth.

B Corp certification means Owen River Lodge embraces a philosophy of continuous improvement measured against the triple bottom line. It means we don’t make claims we can’t back up, and we do our utmost to deliver on every promise we make to our guests.

So you can rest assured that everything we say about our luxurious accommodation, superb cuisine and service, environmental sustainability, and brilliant visitor experience is 100% true. Not marketing hype. Not “fake it ‘til you make it”. Just the plain, honest truth.

We’ve always tried to do the right thing. To me, that’s just how you build a successful business. But B Corp certification takes that one step further. It’s the way businesses will operate in the future and I’m very glad that we’ve jumped on board early.

Have you heard NZ is opening its borders? Book now for the 2022/3 season!

We’ve been inundated with bookings (thank you !) —next Jan and Feb are almost completely fully booked—but we still have a few vacancies left in Oct–Dec 2022 and Mar–Apr 2023. Don’t leave it too long, though. We’d hate to disappoint you.

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