Welcome back Adam!

When the GFC hit, Adam (our office manager) went to work for a friend of mine's company that wasn't affected by the economic slowdown. Is it was a secondment type arrangement in that the idea was always for him to return to Capital Reservations as things got back to normal for us. I'm pleased to say that after a good 2010, especially the end of it, Adam is back in the office (after a little over 18 months away) and ready for a big 2011.

A number of the agents who have been using us for a while will remember working with him, for those that haven't, please be patient as he might just take a little time to find his feet again.

2010 by the numbers

At the start of each year, I sit down and work out our sales productions for hotels for the calendar year just gone. I didn't do it in 2009 because, well the numbers took such a dive from 2008 and 2007 due to the GFC/economic slowdown that it just didn't seem worthwhile. So back in 2008 I compared production to 2007 for each city but since I've skipped a year, I won't worry about doing that this time. This year (2011) it will certainly be interesting to compare against the 2010 numbers.

Anyway, here is a list of the capital cities and which were the most productive for us (from best to worst):

1. Darwin
2. Brisbane
3. Perth
4. Sydney
5. Adelaide
6. Canberra
7. Melbourne

Apologies to our friends in Tasmania, but we did hardly any room nights in Hobart so I don't have them on the list. 2010 was the first year that our home town of Brisbane wasn't our biggest city. Thanks to a very large client that we look after, Darwin was the big mover on the list and sales were substantially ahead of Brisbane in second. Melbourne has really dropped off for us over the last few years and has now fallen to the bottom.

Thanks to the aformentioned large client, our top 2 hotels in the country are in Darwin. Here is the list of the 10 hotels around Australia that we make the most bookings with:

1. Mantra Pandanas (Darwin)
2. Mantra on the Esplanade (Darwin)
3. Mantra on Hay (Perth)
4. Oaks Charlotte Towers (Brisbane)
5. Mantra on Northbourne (Canberra)
6. Chifley at Lennons (Brisbane)
7. M on Mary (Brisbane)
8. Aarons All-Suites (Perth)
9. Citigate & Sebel King George Square (Brisbane)
10. The Portal Hotel (Brisbane)

Mantra Pandanas exterior

Brisbane hotel flood update

More on the Queensland flood situation next time, but quickly here are the main Brisbane hotels that have been affected:

Stamford Plaza - closed until further notice, they're hoping February some time (I heard yesterday they were out for at least 6 weeks)

Rydges South Bank - no power, running off a generator. Hoping to have power back on in the next few days

Quay West Suites - no power, operating on limited services. No new arrivals until January 20.

The Sebel Suites - closed until February 7

Oaks 212 Margaret - no power, not accommodating guests until January 22

Oaks Festival Towers - limited lifts in service

Central West End Apartments - no power, unlikely to be operating for at least 4 weeks.