Personal Assist was formed in 2006 to meet a demand for a very professional and personalised property lifestyle management service. We offer discerning absentee property owners, the very best.
Barbara Watson-Palmer
Director
“Our clients have very busy lives. They want to know everything is taken care of while they’re away and when they’re here, it’s their time; they want to give themselves permission to relax. We make that happen.”
Barbara was the guest services manager at a five-star luxury lodge in Queenstown when a couple from Chicago, who spend three months of the year in New Zealand, asked her to manage their affairs when they were out of the country. And that’s how Personal Assist began.
Since launching the company fourteen years ago, Barbara has developed a select clientele with an individualised service based on professionalism, excellence and discretion – becoming an indispensable asset to the international home owners who trust her to manage their properties in their absence and ensure a seamless transition on their return.
A Queenstown local since 1992, Barbara draws on her local knowledge and extensive network of contacts to find the right person, for the best value – whether it’s liaising on a building project, designing a travel itinerary for overseas guests or arranging an elegant dinner party catered by a personal chef.
After more than 20 years in the building and hospitality industry (by the age of 16, she was managing her first shop), she’s calm under pressure and knows it is attention to detail that counts. “My husband and I have built a couple of houses ourselves and it’s so important to have the small things right,” she says.
And as the relationship with each client develops, so does the level of trust, with the utmost privacy and confidentiality assured.
