Lonely Planet names Brisbane the nation's coolest city

News out earlier in the week ...

Lonely Planet names Brisbane the nation's coolest city

 

• From:The Courier-Mail
• January 07, 201412:00AM

IT'S enough to make us choke on our lattes. 
  
The latest Australian edition of travel bible Lonely Planet has named Brisbane the country's coolest city.

That's right, the once-boring business centre home to XXXX beer, Broncos and bland office towers is now cooler than Melbourne and Sydney, according top the writers from The Lonely Planet.

The new edition, released just before Christmas, describes Brisbane as Australia's "hippest city" and a star on the rise.

"Booming Brisbane is an energetic river town on the way up with an edgy arts scene, pumping nightlife and great coffee and restaurants," the guidebook says.

"Brisbane is Australia's most underrated city.

"Sub-culture undercurrents run deep here with cool bookshops, globally-inspired restaurants and cafes, bars and band rooms aplenty."

The generous praise might mystify Melburnians and stun Sydneysiders, but the praise comes as no surprise to locals in the know.

Emily Nunes, 33, who co-owns newly opened bar and restaurant Papa Jack's with her husband Marco, said Brisbane has "come into its own".

"There are new bars constantly opening," she said.

"I do think that people are really striving for high-quality and quirky offerings.

"We have a really good coffee culture, some of the best bartenders in the country, and we've got a fabulous climate."

Bardon hipster Hannah Rowe, 27, said Brisbane was picking up its act.

"I've definitely noticed that in the last year or two there have been so many new bars, restaurants and cool little venues popping up," she said.

"The culture aspect of Brisbane has really come along."

Bar and restaurant owner Adrian Mezzina said it was an exciting time for the river city.

"There's been a lot happen over the last few years," he said.

"It was this big, sleepy town maybe 10 years ago, but you couldn't say that any more.

"Even friends of mine who visit from down south are kind of blown away with what Brisbane has to offer these days, whether it's restaurants, or bars or clubs."

Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said Lonely Planet's verdict reaffirmed what Brisbanites already knew.

"When you have a great place to live, people will want to come and visit you," he said.

"The word is spreading and people are starting to appreciate the different textures and vibes to Brisbane."

WHAT LONELY PLANET SAYS ABOUT BRISBANE

* Pumping night-life
* Edgy arts scene
* Cool book shops
* Globally-inspired restaurants
* Great cafes
* Abundance of live music and band venues

Conference wins a positive for the Brisbane hotel market

Its been a very, very quiet year for the Brisbane hotel market, especially compared to what we're used to. So it was nice to see some positive news for the year ahead with this update from Brisbane Marketing (below).
My guess is that the Austmine conference in 2015 will be a big one.


Conferences booming in Brisbane

Brisbane has won the right to host 16 conferences worth more than $30 million in a stunning September quarter for the local business events industry.

The September quarter bid wins led by the Brisbane Marketing Convention Bureau include a number of prestigious medical, education, resources and IT conferences:

• Joint Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine, Aeromedical Society of Australasia, and Flight Nurses Australia Conference 2014
• Australian Association for Research in Education – New Zealand Association for Research in Education 2014 Conference
• WCO IT Conference & Exhibition 2014 (World Customs Organisation)
• Australia and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2015
• Austmine 2015 International Conference and Exhibition.

Other bid wins led by the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) - done in partnership with Brisbane Marketing – have also contributed to the outstanding September quarter result.

These events will inject more than $30 million into the city’s economy, while bringing 11,500 delegates to Brisbane.

It puts Brisbane on track for a bumper year for conferences in the lead-up to the G20 Leaders Summit in November 2014.

Lady Gaga fails to deliver

No, I'm not talking about her on-stage performance ... I'm talking about filling the Brisbane hotel market. She's not my taste or style in music so this was not a concert I was ever going to attend.

Usually, big name musician + midweek concert in Brisbane = good things for the Brisbane hotel market (and of course us). So it was a rather disappointing surprise when the city failed to fill on Wednesday or Thursday last week when her concerts were on. I'm not sure if this was due to the Monday public holiday, the fact that its June and that corporate travel is slow or just that her concerts were out at Boondall and not at Suncorp Stadium (just outside the CBD).

What did surprise us tho was that the city filled on Tuesday night thanks to the Socceroos World Cup qualifying match against Japan at Suncorp.

We've loaded up on rooms for Coldplay in November which is midweek, during peak season and at Suncorp ... so it should be similar to U2 & Jay-Z, Bon Jovi, etc and be a very big event for the Brisbane hotel market.

November - Peak Corporate Travel Season

November tends to be one of the busiest corporate travel months of the year as everyone tries to get business done before everything shuts down over the Christmas holidays.

Obviously this year has been a rough one for corporate travel so exactly how busy November would be was anyone's guess. Corporate demand keeps cities busy at this time of year, but its the events and other things happening that fills the hotels and brings our service in to demand.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the month got off to a great start thanks to Tiger Woods playing in the Australian Masters in Melbourne. I didn't give Britney Spears much credit for just how busy it was but it seems I may have been mistaken as the weak after when she was in Sydney, along with Pearl Jam, demand was through the roof. The same week there was a large rail conference in Adelaide that made it crazy busy.

The only frustration with both events was that I knew they were coming, I just didn't imagine the demand for rooms would be to the level it was. The phones rang off the hook and while I had some rooms ready to go, it was nowhere near enough and it was disappointing have to tell so many people that a city was full.

This week, Britney Spears and Pearl Jam came to Brisbane, in the same week that Hulk Hogan was in town and the first cricket test match of the summer is at the Gabba on Thursday. Thankfully I was prepared, grabbed plenty of rooms but they still didn't last too long. Tomorrow (Wednesday the 25th) is the absolute worst of it and so many people have needed that one night. I ran completely out of rooms this afternoon so my fingers are crossed that there are some cancellations overnight and I can find availability in the morning.

Good signs ahead

A number of my posts over the last few months have been about the gloomy state of the Australian hotel market due to the economic slowdown. Thankfully, things start to be looking up again. We're not seeing the full flow-on effect as yet and we have a looooong way to go to get back to normality but some positive signs are there.

Events are starting to fill cities again and a number of cities are back to being busy on a regular basis. Canberra has been pretty steady thanks to a number of sittings of parliament. Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth have been slowly picking up again while Darwin is always very busy at this time of year.

One of the biggest frustrations over the last few months has been that we are still getting some really great enquiries (groups, long-stays, etc) but just haven't ended up booking any of them. Whether its just companies "kicking tyres" or they aren't getting the rates approved by their accounts, its disappointing to get the enquiry and not be able to close the deal. The group bookings and the long-stays are the cream for our business as they take the same time to do as a normal reservation but are obviously worth a lot more.

So it was nice last week to finally close a really good booking and one that I didn't expect to. I had one of the travel agent's we look after call me needing help with accommodation in Geelong. Sure, not a capital city and not somewhere we normally look after but for the right enquiry I'll definitely make an exception. Surprisingly, Geelong is extremely busy over the next month or so with a number of events and the agent needed to find 6 rooms for roughly 6 weeks each. Thankfully one of my friends is the Director of Sales & Marketing at the Four Points by Sheraton Geelong and he was able to work his magic, squeeze them in and give me an excellent rate.

I was actually down in Geelong a month or two ago for my birthday weekend and thanks to my friend we stayed at the hotel. Its in a great location overlooking the bay and I had a nice room overlooking the water (pictured below) ... and paid very little including breakfast and drinks. Two months later, a very good booking for them (and us) ... it obviously pays to have me stay at your hotel! :-)

Pink wreaking havoc in Brisbane

Its nice to be able to blog about particularly busy dates again! After a relatively quiet few months I'm starting to see signs of things picking up again (fingers crossed). Parliament sitting in Canberra is filling the city again, Adelaide surprisingly went nuts over the last couple of days and tonight is close to fully booked in Brisbane.

The reason for it tonight ... sure there is your normal corporate component, but the main reason seems to be the last concert of Pink. She's no Andre Rieu and she's done 150 concerts (ok, not quite that many but it seems like it) so I'm not sure why this particular night is so busy ... but I'm not going to complain.

Emporium Hotel - Executive Stays Package

In these tough economic times, there's nothing more frustrating to me than hotels that don't adjust their rates or packages accordingly (State of Origin anyone?). That's why I was SO pleased to see this latest package from the Emporium Hotel in Brisbane.

24 hour free broadband internet AND a light breakfast for just $15 ... fantastic value!

Here are the details of the package:

Brisbane: Emporium Hotel announces Executive Stays Package for the Corporate Traveller

Brisbane’s stylish and multi-award winning Emporium Hotel has announced a custom-designed package created specifically for the corporate traveller – introducing Executive Stays.

The Executive Stays Package has been specifically designed for the corporate traveller, and includes luxury accommodation in a King Suite, free 24hr broadband access, an Executive Continental Breakfast enjoyed either in the comfort of the suite or packaged up to takeaway on the run, and a complimentary morning newspaper.

General Manager of the Emporium Hotel, Mr Peter Savoff said the needs of corporate travellers were always changing. “Today with tighter budgets, the corporate traveller has to fit even more into what is an already packed meetings schedule. Because of this we have tailored a package which includes exactly what they need – 24 hour internet access, breakfast packaged up on the go if required, newspapers and of course the King Suite so they can rest easily,” he said.

“In addition to the Executive Stays package, guests also receive the very best the Emporium Hotel has to offer – exceptional concierge services, gym and pool facilities, meeting facilities and much more. As a corporate traveller myself, I understand what guests expect, and this is why we have created this package.”

The Executive Stay package is only an additional $15 on a King Suite rate and is available from Sunday to Thursday nights inclusive, valid through until September 30, 2009. It is subject to availability and conditions apply.