Hillview House Byron Bay

As mentioned in my previous post, last weekend was my 40th birthday and we made a long weekend out of it in Byron Bay.

Myself and some close friends stayed at Hillview House which is actually in Ewingsdale, 5km or so inland/up the hill from the centre of Byron. As you can see from the aerial picture below, the house itself was spectacular and perfect for a luxury weekend away to celebrate the milestone.

My room was the one at the top at the back which overlooked the pool, the fields and had views of the lighthouse on the hill. Other than the four-poster bed, the highlight was the outdoor shower on the balcony. This seemed like an odd concept but apparently its a Byron thing. After some initial hesitation, I embraced the idea and showered out there every time except for the last morning when it was a bit cold and windy. Thankfully the house is extremely private! lol

 

 

Great hotel customer service

I came across a great story about hotels going above and beyond when it comes to great customer service.

How One Business Fulfilled a Ridiculous Customer Request

BY Kevin Allen

Hotels live and die by customer service. When it's done wrong, you can lose a customer right away. When it's exceptional--truly exceptional--the whole world might hear about it.

Exceptional is a good way to describe the customer service at Woodlands Resort in Texas after a Reddit user recently gave the following special request in their online booking:
Three red M&Ms on the counter. Not packages, just three single M&Ms. One for me, one for my girlfriend, and one to split if we get hungry late at night. And a picture of bacon set on the bed. I love pictures of bacon.

Read the rest of the story: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227510#ixzz2ZushahTS

Office hours - Friday, July 19

The office will be closed from 1pm this Friday, July 19. Its my 40th birthday so we're headed down to Byron Bay to celebrate. Adam will be back first thing on Monday while I'm making it a longer weekend and will return on Tuesday.

Melbourne accommodation - Liverpool FC vs Melbourne Victory

Its a great week ahead for Australian fans of the EPL with not one but two teams making their way down under. The first match is on Saturday night in Sydney when Manchester United play an A League All-Star team and the second is next Wednesday (July 24) when Liverpool FC fly to Melbourne to take on the Victory.

I thought the Manchester United would be the big game and be harder to find accommodation for but it seems the Liverpool match midweek in Melbourne is providing the challenge. I'm sure its the mix of normal corporate business plus the football fans coming in to town for the game that's made the 24th almost fully booked.

Thankfully we saw availability disappearing a week or so back and have a stash of rooms up our sleeve at some really good rates. Last minute websites only have prices of $500+ but we still have a dozen or so rooms available with rates starting from UNDER $300 on the 24th. As we don't have many rooms left we do have a two night minimum stay over this busy night. E-mail or call us and we'll let you know what we can organise.

Sydney accommodation - State of Origin 3

Its now less than a week until the deciding game 3 of the State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales and if you still need to book accommodation you've come to the right place.

We normally specialise in CBD accommodation but for the State of Origin 3 we have a handful of rooms still available in Parramatta hotels. There is still availability at Homebush but the rates on offer are over $500. Parramatta is the business hub nearest to the stadium and its essentially fully booked now too but we have a couple of rooms up our sleeve for under $350/night.

So if you don't want to travel from the city to the game, Parramatta is definitely the best option and for under $350 its a lot better than trying to stay at Homebush in my opinion. E-mail or call us and we'll let you know what we can organise.

Go the Maroons!

Scotland trip

Although you can't tell by my lack of accent, I was actually born in Scotland (Edinburgh to be precise) and came to Australia when I was 7. It had been 15 years since I had been back to Scotland so when my mum mentioned she was going this year I jumped at the chance to go with her.

Last time I was there I stayed with my brother and his mates. I was mid-twenties so the time was spent drinking, eating and generally doing very little sight-seeing. The plan this time was to catch up with family, friends and see a lot more of the country (that wouldn't be hard).

I won't bore you with all the details but the places we went were:
Edinburgh
Borthwick
Melrose
Linlithgow
Spean Bridge
Inverness
Poolewe
Skye
Tayvallich

I also spent 3 days in London visiting friends and managed to get a ticket to the Queen's Tennis Tournament to see my boy Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.

The highlight of the trip, other than the fantastic weather we had, was climbing Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m) with my cousins.

(The view from the top)

 

(Me with proof I made it to the top)

 

Late Checkouts

Here's a great story about hotels embracing an opportunity to provide value that seems so simple I'm not sure why it hasn't been done all along.


Hotels Embrace Sunday Sleep-Ins with Late Checkouts

By Nancy Trejos

Hotels are encouraging their guests to sleep in on Sundays.

A growing number of hotels are granting travelers a reprieve from the oppressive 11 a.m. checkout on Sundays, when they have fewer guests checking in to take over their rooms.
Some examples:

• Westin Hotels & Resorts recently launched the "Make Monday Better" program which allows for a free 3 p.m. checkout on Sunday at all 193 properties.
• La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, Calif., is offering a Sunday 5 p.m. checkout free of charge throughout the summer. Guests can either stay in their rooms or use any of the resort's 41 pools.
• Novotel hotels grant Sunday checkouts as late as 5 p.m. for free. On other days, guests can check out at 5 p.m. for $75.
• The new Hyatt Union Square New York lets guests stay for 24 hours from Thursday to Sunday.
• The Peninsula Beverly Hills last year introduced "Peninsula Time," a program that lets guests stay at the hotel for longer than 24 hours. Guests can check in and out at any hour of the day or night at no additional charge. Want to check in at 8 a.m. one day and leave at 10 p.m. the next? Not a problem. Just request it beforehand.
• Radisson Blu offers free checkouts as late as 6 p.m. any day of the week, depending on availability. If there is limited availability, guests can still check out late, but it will cost them 20% to 50% of the room rate.

"We feel it speaks to our type of weekend guests - young adult leisure travelers who want to make the most of their time in New York and maximize the value they see in the hotel they choose," says Chris Holbrook, general manager of Hyatt Union Square. "We feel it is a great value-add that provides guests with the luxury of time."

Hotel managers say the service has been popular among travelers who often gripe about paying for a night, but not getting a full 24 hours. Guests particularly like staying in their rooms longer on Sundays to get over their weekend revelry or wait out the travel rush home.

Hotels set early checkout times to give housekeeping enough time to turn over a large number of rooms for new guests. Sunday is the ideal day to allow guests to linger longer, because more rooms will likely stay empty overnight.

"Since Sunday nights are the lowest occupancy nights for most hotels, offering a late checkout on Sundays does not put pressure on housekeeping to quickly clean the rooms to prepare them for check-ins," says Maryam Wehe, senior vice president at Applied Predictive Technologies, which does hotel consulting.

Javier Rosenberg, chief operating officer for Radisson, estimates that 15% to 20% of guests take advantage of the late checkout.

Experts say it's a way for hotels to distinguish themselves from competitors and attract repeat customers. Many hotel companies, including InterContinental Hotels Group and Starwood, allow late checkouts for their most loyal customers.

"Guests often feel that they have paid for a full night, and a few hours here or there should not matter," Wehe says. "As hotel brands strive to differentiate the guest experience and move away from 'nickel and diming' guests, being flexible about checkout time will leave a good taste with many guests."

But Wehe says hotels run the risk of overburdening their housekeeping staff. They could also lose revenue from business travelers who are willing to pay for an extra night even if they don't intend to stay just so they have a place to work or rest before an evening flight.

Frequent traveler Kimball Cassidy of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., has done late checkouts when she's had evening flights and needed to get work done. She says she will now only stay at hotels that offer late checkouts. "Remember, a hotel is also an office for us (who) travel," she says.