Perth - peak season

Its peak season for corporate travel around the country at the moment but the city that's the busiest would definitely be Perth.

I remember pre-GFC, the mining boom in WA was in full effect and Perth used to sell out week after week. There were plenty of reports in the media about it being impossible to get rooms in Perth and while they were slightly exaggerated, we're not far off that situation again. Essentially, if you don't book your accommodation a week before you travel, you may as well not go.

To give you an idea of how busy it is, the Perth hotels have essentially filled for 5 or 6 weeks straight now. Sure, not every night, but the peak nights (Tuesday & Wednesday) have been filling without a great reason. No massive conferences, no sporting events, our only excuse right now as to why its full is that this is just Perth being Perth.

This week has been one of the worst I've seen ... and again, no good reason, its just peak season. I had an allotment of rooms that I grabbed late last Wednesday night ... and there wasn't much left at that time. Most of the rooms were sold on Thursday and we were completely out by Friday morning. Its been frustrating ever since having to turn away the hundreds of enquiries we've had.

I've loaded up for next week in preparation, so let's see how long they last this time!

Morale of the story: If you're going to Perth in October or November, book your accommodation early ... and before you book your flights.

Long weekend at Hyatt Coolum

Its been a while since I've blogged. Its due mostly because we're in peak season at the moment and we're flat out but also partly due to the fact that I've been doing a bit of travel of late. The first time was the end of October for a friend's 40th birthday.

She's an ex-Brisbane girl now living in Sydney and they love to holiday at Hyatt Coolum, so to celebrate her 40th birthday they invited myself and some other friends to join them for a long weekend at the Hyatt. There were 7 of us sharing a three bedroom Ambassador's Residence and two couples with babies in a two bedroom villa nearby.

The Hyatt is a great resort and the facilities are excellent. The only disappointment from my professional perspective was that the Residence that we were in was in serious need of refurbishment. I believe our friend's villa had been refurbed and looking at the Hyatt's website, I see most of the rooms and villas have been.

The Residence we were in was in a great spot in the resort tho. It was next to the 18th tea so looked straight down towards the clubhouse and was and also just a 20m walk to the Residence lounge (for breakfast each morning and drinks & canapes each evening).

We spent the days relaxing, getting a bit of sun, swimming and reading. The nights were basically spent eating, drinking and catching up on old times.

Worlds Largest Thai Dinner

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to get an invite to an event the Brisbane Marriott was hosting, titled "The Worlds Largest Thai Dinner". In conjunction with their client appreciation week, Marriott's around the world were all hosting a Thai dinner, with the same format and menu for the evening in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of Records.

I took Adam along with me as he loves his food but as we had been rather busy of late, I hadn't done much research in to the evening and was surprised to find out that it was an intimate sit down dinner, rather than the normal hotel function (ballroom, stand-up drinks & canapes, etc).

We spent most of the evening talking to Nicole the Revenue Manager at the hotel that we have a great working relationship with. Thanks to Jago, the Director of Sales & Marketing for putting us on the invite list and for hosting the dinner. It was an excellent night and the food was sensational ... and yes, the Marriott spoil me.

Here's the menu from the evening.

Appetiser:
thod man pla
(savory fish cakes with kaffir lime leaves, thai sweet chilli sace and cucumber)
and laab gai
(minced chicken salad with shallots, mint leaves and roasted rice powder)

Soup:
tom yam goong
(traditional thai hot & sour prawn soup)

Main course:
phad thai
(stir-fried noodles with river prawns)
and pla chu chi
(steamed fish in yellow curry)

Dessert:
kluey buad shee
(braised banana in coconut milk syrup)

Andre Rieu reschedules Australian tour

Over the last two years, one of the busiest events on the calendar each year has been the Australian tour of Andre Rieu. He was scheduled to be back again this year, so I was disappointed when Kelli text me one morning to advise that his tour had been cancelled due to illness.

Thankfully he's rescheduled and will be back here in May 2011 ... which gives us plenty of time to prepare.

Rieu reschedules Australian tour - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Violinist, conductor and composer Andre Rieu will return to Australia in May after postponing his concert dates in October due to illness.

Rieu is recovering from a viral infection of the vestibular nerve at his home in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

He says he is confident he will be well enough to perform in early 2011.

'I am so thrilled and excited to be able to come back to Australia and New Zealand in May,' he said in a statement.

'Thank you all for your support and love.

"It has been the best medicine for my recovery."

Rieu is set to visit Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Newcastle, as well as Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand.

Fans who bought tickets to the 2010 sell-out shows will be automatically transferred to the new dates in May.

Darwin trip

I'm sure most of my friends are tired of me talking about Darwin when they ask how business is going ... but what can I say, its been a LARGE part of things over the last few months. While I "patiently" wait for the main part of our business to return to normal (that is helping the travel management companies during peak dates), we've been making hay while the sun shines by booking plenty of long-stay accommodation in Darwin.

So a much needed trip to Darwin took place last week. I had been keeping an eye on the Virgin Blue happy hour specials and it paid off as I picked up flights for basically half the normal price and began planning the visit. Almost all of the accommodation we've been booking in Darwin has been at Mantra Pandanas and Mantra on the Esplanade so they were my first point of call when it came to organising a room for myself. Thanks to Angie in sales, I was given a one bedroom water view apartment (pictured below) at Pandanas which was very nice. I was lucky enough to be on the top floor so had great views, the apartment was a good size and of course fully self-contained.

Virgin Blue has only one flight from Brisbane in to Darwin and one flight out each day and they're not pretty. Land at 12:45 am and fly out at 1:40am ... ouch! I didn't mind too much as it was a really quick trip to see the two Mantra properties, say hi and thanks to the reservations staff that have been looking after us and also check out the newly refurbished Holiday Inn. It was a good trip and great to put faces to names that we've been working with so closely.

And yes it was of course pretty warm up there and it took me a few days to catch up on lost sleep ...

Lunch at the South Bank Surf Club

Its been a while since I've caught up with the sales team from Mantra Hotels here in Brisbane so on Friday I was lucky enough to get taken out to lunch by Kate and Jessica (our new sales contact).

We've had a fairly strong last 9 months or so with a number of their hotels around the country (Mantra Pandanas, Mantra on the Esplanade, Mantra on Kent, Mantra Hindmarsh Square and Mantra on Hay), so it was good to get the update on our numbers and everything happening within the Mantra Group.

As mentioned in the title, we had lunch at the Surf Club in the middle of South Bank which is the new restaurant for celebrity chef, Ben O'Donoghue. Its set-up similarly to a surf club but the menu of course is a little bit more fancy and still good value.

The food was great, Brisbane turned on some beautiful weather and I could've stayed there a lot longer than we did!

40 days and 40 nights of chocolate

The chocolate festival at Sebel Citigate King George Square is back! I'm going in 3 weeks time, mmmmmm ... chocolate

Indulge in Bistro Allure's 40 Days and 40 Nights of Chocolate, from Wednesday 1 September 2010.

Back by popular demand, 40 Days and 40 Nights of Chocolate boasts a 'Chocolate Buffet' overflowing with decadent delights to satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths.

This marks the seventh annual chocolate event which has attracted thousands of chocolate lovers. Tantalise your tastebuds in a chocolate sensation of cakes, gateaux's, slices, tarts, cheesecakes, puddings, ice-creams and complementing mouth-watering sauces.

And if thats not enough, delight in our chocolate fountain offering marshmallows and seasonal fruits.

Bistro Allure Chocolate Buffet -

$25.00 per person

Available for Lunch and Dinner

• Lunch 11.30am to 3.00pm
• Dinner 5.30pm to 10.00pm

Bookings essential. Call Bistro Allure on (07) 3222 1128 or email

So much chocolate and so much time....Bistro Allure's 40 Days and 40 Nights of Chocolate.

For more information, click here.