As we spend a lot of time on hotel websites and 3rd party hotel booking sites, I do wonder why they make things so hard.
K.I.S.S. :-)
Friday, May 25, 2012
Hotel websites
Thanks to one of the industry newsletters I read for pointing out this gem from The Hotel Internet Marketing Blog.
As we spend a lot of time on hotel websites and 3rd party hotel booking sites, I do wonder why they make things so hard.
K.I.S.S. :-)
As we spend a lot of time on hotel websites and 3rd party hotel booking sites, I do wonder why they make things so hard.
K.I.S.S. :-)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Borat thanked for lifting Kazakhstan tourism
From an industry newsletter this morning:
Borat thanked for lifting Kazakhstan tourism - Destination News - etravelblackboard.com
On the eve of the release of his new film ‘The Dictator’, Sacha Baron Cohen and his previous flick, ‘Borat’ have been thanked for boosting tourism to Kazakhstan.
Once banned from Kazakhstan for satirizing its people, Borat was recently acknowledged by Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov as being responsible for sparking massive interest in the country, AFP reported.
“With the release of this film, the number of visas issued by Kazakhstan grew tenfold,” local news agencies quoted the foreign minister as telling a session of parliament.
“I am grateful to 'Borat' for helping attract tourists to Kazakhstan.”
‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ was released in 2006 to international acclaim.
But the Central Asian nation from which the film’s protagonist hailed took issue with the movie with its harsh depiction of Kazakh rural life and its people.
According to AFP, earlier this year, Kazakhstan lodged a formal complaint with the Olympic Committee of Asia after a spoof Kazakh anthem from the movie was broadcast at a sports event in Kuwait.
Borat thanked for lifting Kazakhstan tourism - Destination News - etravelblackboard.com
On the eve of the release of his new film ‘The Dictator’, Sacha Baron Cohen and his previous flick, ‘Borat’ have been thanked for boosting tourism to Kazakhstan.
Once banned from Kazakhstan for satirizing its people, Borat was recently acknowledged by Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov as being responsible for sparking massive interest in the country, AFP reported.
“With the release of this film, the number of visas issued by Kazakhstan grew tenfold,” local news agencies quoted the foreign minister as telling a session of parliament.
“I am grateful to 'Borat' for helping attract tourists to Kazakhstan.”
‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ was released in 2006 to international acclaim.
But the Central Asian nation from which the film’s protagonist hailed took issue with the movie with its harsh depiction of Kazakh rural life and its people.
According to AFP, earlier this year, Kazakhstan lodged a formal complaint with the Olympic Committee of Asia after a spoof Kazakh anthem from the movie was broadcast at a sports event in Kuwait.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Melbourne trip
I've been to Sydney several times this year but last week I was down in Melbourne for the first time in a number of years. Melbourne is a very quiet market for us at the moment. The hotels are always extremely busy on the weekends (with leisure travel) but unless there is a major concert in town or Tiger Woods playing golf, its not usually too hard to find accommodation midweek.
Since I have very little pull down there right now I did some research to find the best accommodation deal and came up with a great rate for a 2 bedroom apartment (I had some friends staying with me) at Docklands Apartments Grand Mercure.
Other than seeing AFL games at Etihad Stadium, I really hadn't spent any time in the Docklands precinct. Its a little bit further away from the centre of the CBD than I thought but with the free tram stopping about 100m from our apartment block getting around was no problem. On the waterfront there were plenty of good restaurants and cafe's so this too wasn't an issue.
The Docklands Apartments aren't an actual hotel as such, instead its a number of apartment buildings next to each other that Grand Mercure manage. Essentially this just means that there is a separate check-in location and they then give you the keys and tell you which building and apartment you're in. Since there are no porters, no room service, etc the cost was so much cheaper than other 2 bedroom options around the CBD.
If you don't need the full services of a hotel, I'd recommend this property when you're travelling with a few others and want to keep the costs down.
Docklands - New Quay
Since I have very little pull down there right now I did some research to find the best accommodation deal and came up with a great rate for a 2 bedroom apartment (I had some friends staying with me) at Docklands Apartments Grand Mercure.
Other than seeing AFL games at Etihad Stadium, I really hadn't spent any time in the Docklands precinct. Its a little bit further away from the centre of the CBD than I thought but with the free tram stopping about 100m from our apartment block getting around was no problem. On the waterfront there were plenty of good restaurants and cafe's so this too wasn't an issue.
The Docklands Apartments aren't an actual hotel as such, instead its a number of apartment buildings next to each other that Grand Mercure manage. Essentially this just means that there is a separate check-in location and they then give you the keys and tell you which building and apartment you're in. Since there are no porters, no room service, etc the cost was so much cheaper than other 2 bedroom options around the CBD.
If you don't need the full services of a hotel, I'd recommend this property when you're travelling with a few others and want to keep the costs down.
Docklands - New Quay
Monday, April 2, 2012
Easter trading hours
Easter and the April school holidays are a notoriously slow time for us and corporate travel on the whole. The states all seem to have different holiday dates and with numerous public holidays scattered throughout the month travel tends to shut down for a few weeks and picks back up again in May.
We've had a busy February and March so this isn't such a bad thing as we get the chance to catch our breath, regroup and prepare for the run to the end of the financial year. Due to the lack of calls and requests around this time we're going to take it a little easy and reduce our opening hours again.
From this week (starting April 2), we'll open at 9am each morning and close around 4:30pm. Obviously if we're busy we'll be open for longer but I highly doubt that. We will not be working the public holidays and so will have April 6 & 9 off (Good Friday and Easter Monday respectively).
I hope you enjoy the Easter break and don't over-indulge too much on chocolate ...
We've had a busy February and March so this isn't such a bad thing as we get the chance to catch our breath, regroup and prepare for the run to the end of the financial year. Due to the lack of calls and requests around this time we're going to take it a little easy and reduce our opening hours again.
From this week (starting April 2), we'll open at 9am each morning and close around 4:30pm. Obviously if we're busy we'll be open for longer but I highly doubt that. We will not be working the public holidays and so will have April 6 & 9 off (Good Friday and Easter Monday respectively).
I hope you enjoy the Easter break and don't over-indulge too much on chocolate ...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
One of the challenges that is Perth accommodation
Everyone (in the hotel industry) knows that Perth is Boomtown, USA right now and that the city is essentially filling midweek every week. If you don't get in a week or two early you will struggle to get availability and rates will be well over $400/night for even standard 4 star hotels.
This leads to the other challenge with Perth hotels ... and that is managing expectations. When you are paying over $300/night for a hotel room you have certain expectations about the standard you'll receive for that cost. In Sydney or Melbourne that will get you a 5 star hotel but in Perth during their peak times this is definitely not the case.
So the problem comes that not only are people having to pay far more than they're used to but they're not receiving the quality of accommodation they'd expect. The challenge for the Perth hotels is to justify the rates they charge other than just by saying "because we can". As you can see from the article below, Perth rooms are some of the oldest in the country but because they're so full so often the hotels don't get the chance to spend money refurbishing them and keeping them up to date.
The gap between the value of a hotel room in Perth and the price that is charged to the traveller has become so wide that we hear numerous complaints that even the decent hotels aren't up to standard. From what I've seen many of the hotels are fine (older but still ok), but when you're paying an arm and a leg for them its understandable that people will leave disappointed.
Old age looms
over hotel rooms
More than 40,000 of Australia’s
hotel rooms are aged 20 years
plus, posing a considerable
challenge for the industry over the
coming decade, new research has
revealed.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’
research revealed that Australia’s
accommodation product had aged
significantly with an estimated
average age of 10 to 14 years across
the country.
Of the seven state capitals,
Darwin had the newest rooms,
aged between five and nine
years, while Perth, Canberra and
Hobart had the oldest rooms, aged
between 15 and 19 years.
The average was skewed slightly
by newer serviced apartments,
while hotel rooms were often far
older.
“It is generally accepted that the
sustainable life for a real estate
asset is around 30 to 40 years
before extensive refurbishment
and replacement works are
required,” the report said.
“A high proportion of rooms
will therefore require major
works over the coming decade,”
it predicted, adding that
refurbishment costs escalated in
line with the age of product.
Technology would become a
major issue for many hotels, with
necessary infrastructure requiring
extensive refurbishment in older
properties.
This leads to the other challenge with Perth hotels ... and that is managing expectations. When you are paying over $300/night for a hotel room you have certain expectations about the standard you'll receive for that cost. In Sydney or Melbourne that will get you a 5 star hotel but in Perth during their peak times this is definitely not the case.
So the problem comes that not only are people having to pay far more than they're used to but they're not receiving the quality of accommodation they'd expect. The challenge for the Perth hotels is to justify the rates they charge other than just by saying "because we can". As you can see from the article below, Perth rooms are some of the oldest in the country but because they're so full so often the hotels don't get the chance to spend money refurbishing them and keeping them up to date.
The gap between the value of a hotel room in Perth and the price that is charged to the traveller has become so wide that we hear numerous complaints that even the decent hotels aren't up to standard. From what I've seen many of the hotels are fine (older but still ok), but when you're paying an arm and a leg for them its understandable that people will leave disappointed.
Old age looms
over hotel rooms
More than 40,000 of Australia’s
hotel rooms are aged 20 years
plus, posing a considerable
challenge for the industry over the
coming decade, new research has
revealed.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’
research revealed that Australia’s
accommodation product had aged
significantly with an estimated
average age of 10 to 14 years across
the country.
Of the seven state capitals,
Darwin had the newest rooms,
aged between five and nine
years, while Perth, Canberra and
Hobart had the oldest rooms, aged
between 15 and 19 years.
The average was skewed slightly
by newer serviced apartments,
while hotel rooms were often far
older.
“It is generally accepted that the
sustainable life for a real estate
asset is around 30 to 40 years
before extensive refurbishment
and replacement works are
required,” the report said.
“A high proportion of rooms
will therefore require major
works over the coming decade,”
it predicted, adding that
refurbishment costs escalated in
line with the age of product.
Technology would become a
major issue for many hotels, with
necessary infrastructure requiring
extensive refurbishment in older
properties.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
2011 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 to find out which cities are the biggest and which hotels get most of our bookings.
Here is a list of the capital cities that were most productive for us and how they compared to 2010:
1. Darwin (up 32%)
2. Brisbane (up 130%)
3. Perth (up 240%)
4. Sydney (down 14%)
5. Melbourne (down 55%)
6. Canberra (down 65%)
7. Adelaide (down 84%)
Comparing the cities to their ranks last year, Melbourne moved up the ladder mainly thanks to Tiger Woods and the President's Cup in November while Adelaide received the wooden spoon having fallen from 5th to 7th. The bottom three cities were very, very quiet for us and were not even close to Sydney in 4th, I hope this will change in 2012.
The positives were the great production in Perth and Brisbane which came as no surprise as they kept us very busy last year. I've nicknamed Perth "boomtown USA" because it fills almost every week (midweek) due to the mining boom, there aren't enough hotels to cope with the demand and the prices are through the roof. Brisbane is benefitting from the mining industry as well and really narrowed the gap between it and Darwin this year (which was miles ahead in 2010). Darwin continued to be our # 1 city purely due to a large contract we were helping with. Unfortunately this work is basically over now so it will take a huge drop next year.
Here is the list of the 10 hotels around Australia that we make the most bookings with:
1. Mantra Pandanas (Darwin)
2. M on Mary (Brisbane)
3. Perth Ambassador (Perth)
4. Mantra on the Esplanade (Darwin)
5. Chifley at Lennons (Brisbane)
6. All Suites Perth (Perth)
7. Macarthur Chambers (Brisbane)
8. Hotel Grand Chancellor (Brisbane)
9. Mantra on Murray (Perth)
10. Hotel Ibis (Perth)
One of the goals I set Adam at the start of last year was to help us book more rooms with less hotels rather than some rooms with lots of hotels. The best example of this in action is that the total sales for our top 10 hotels increased by 90% from their counterparts in 2010.
Here is a list of the capital cities that were most productive for us and how they compared to 2010:
1. Darwin (up 32%)
2. Brisbane (up 130%)
3. Perth (up 240%)
4. Sydney (down 14%)
5. Melbourne (down 55%)
6. Canberra (down 65%)
7. Adelaide (down 84%)
Comparing the cities to their ranks last year, Melbourne moved up the ladder mainly thanks to Tiger Woods and the President's Cup in November while Adelaide received the wooden spoon having fallen from 5th to 7th. The bottom three cities were very, very quiet for us and were not even close to Sydney in 4th, I hope this will change in 2012.
The positives were the great production in Perth and Brisbane which came as no surprise as they kept us very busy last year. I've nicknamed Perth "boomtown USA" because it fills almost every week (midweek) due to the mining boom, there aren't enough hotels to cope with the demand and the prices are through the roof. Brisbane is benefitting from the mining industry as well and really narrowed the gap between it and Darwin this year (which was miles ahead in 2010). Darwin continued to be our # 1 city purely due to a large contract we were helping with. Unfortunately this work is basically over now so it will take a huge drop next year.
Here is the list of the 10 hotels around Australia that we make the most bookings with:
1. Mantra Pandanas (Darwin)
2. M on Mary (Brisbane)
3. Perth Ambassador (Perth)
4. Mantra on the Esplanade (Darwin)
5. Chifley at Lennons (Brisbane)
6. All Suites Perth (Perth)
7. Macarthur Chambers (Brisbane)
8. Hotel Grand Chancellor (Brisbane)
9. Mantra on Murray (Perth)
10. Hotel Ibis (Perth)
One of the goals I set Adam at the start of last year was to help us book more rooms with less hotels rather than some rooms with lots of hotels. The best example of this in action is that the total sales for our top 10 hotels increased by 90% from their counterparts in 2010.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Back in the office
Today marks our first day back in the office for 2012.
January is a very quiet time for the corporate travel market so while our hours are officially 8:30 - 5 (Brisbane time), there may be times over the next week or two when the phone is diverted during these hours. We might be out catching up with some of our hotel contacts or sometimes if its quiet we're just taking an early mark. If you do call and get the voicemail during normal business hours please just leave a message and we'll get back to you shortly.
February is one of the busiest months of the year for us so things will quickly return to madness around here!
I hope you have a fantastic 2012 and we look forward to talking with you soon.
January is a very quiet time for the corporate travel market so while our hours are officially 8:30 - 5 (Brisbane time), there may be times over the next week or two when the phone is diverted during these hours. We might be out catching up with some of our hotel contacts or sometimes if its quiet we're just taking an early mark. If you do call and get the voicemail during normal business hours please just leave a message and we'll get back to you shortly.
February is one of the busiest months of the year for us so things will quickly return to madness around here!
I hope you have a fantastic 2012 and we look forward to talking with you soon.
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