AccomNews - Summer 2021

The essential industry guide

Registered by Aust. Post Print Post No. 100024635

Issue 74 | Summer 2021 | AUD $16.50 incl GST accomnews.com.au

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AccomNews is distributed quarterly to hotel, motel, resort and apartment properties throughout Australia

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The views and images expressed in AccomNews do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The information contained in AccomNews is intended to act as a guide only, the publisher, authors and editors expressly disclaim all liability for the results of action taken or not taken on the basis of information contained herein. We recommend professional advice is sought before making important business decisions.

Inside our Summer issue Front Desk__________________________________ Editor's Note: 2021 is certainly off with a bang!............................. 05

Industry____________________________________

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EDITOR Mandy Clarke, editor@accomnews.com.au STAFF WRITERS Rosie Clarke, Grantlee Kieza PRODUCTION Richard McGill, production@accomnews.com.au ADVERTISING Tim Svenson, t.svenson@accomnews.com.au Dee Dawson, d.dawson@accomnews.com.au SERVICE Gavin Bill, service@accomnews.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Michael Johnson, Stephen Ferguson, Madeleine Sawyer, Laura Younger, Tamie Mathews, Sylvia Johnston, Tracy Dong and Judy Senn.

TAA Voice: Is 2021 our Groundhog Day?.......................................... 06 AHA Voice: The best pay rise is more hours................................... 08 CIAA Voice: Feast or famine greets the caravan industry........ 09 ATHOC Voice: Timeshare in Australia is holding its own........... 10

06

Supplier information or content Suppliers share their views in one-off, topical pieces General editorial. Case studies and features may cite or quote suppliers, please be aware that we have a strict ‘no commercial content’ guideline for all magazine editorial, so this is not part of any commercially funded advertorial but may be included as relevant opinion. Happy reading!

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

How the hotel industry is cleaning up its act................................. 12 Op-Ed: Up your game - book direct is not free...............................16

Profiles_____________________________________ Rydges Gold Coast Airport Hotel: Beach feel as Rydges Airport flying high..........................................20 North Star Holiday Park: North Star shines with smashing slide refurb................................24

Housekeeping______________________________ Technology cleans up as hotels go hi-tech.....................................26 From Nepal to a peak performer in the hotel industry............... 30

20

Putting the mattress minefield to rest...............................................32

Energy & Resources_________________________ Is your air-con out of control?...............................................................34

Safety & Security____________________________ How to prepare for a weather disaster..............................................37

Marketing__________________________________ Never underestimate the value of your data................................. 40

24

How automation will drive hotels revenue recovery….................42

Technology_________________________________ Wifi systems under load - has yours coped?...................................43

Refurbishment______________________________ Balconies and Balustrades: Treat the high point of your property well........................................44

KEY Commercially funded supplier profile or supplier case study

Management_______________________________

44 FRONT DESK

Access all areas: Research the key for disability travellers...... 46 Case Study: $6 million buys fresh, light feel at Byron................. 50

What’s Hot............................................. 52 Preferred Supplier Directory.................... 54 www.accomnews.com.au

I hope the next 11 months are full of opportunities, but we are far from returning to pre-COVID levels of business. Recent events in Queensland and New Zealand highlight that we are only one COVID community transmitted case away from returning to a lengthy lockdown.

According to recent stats from STR, Australia’s accom industry recorded its worst occupancy levels ever in 2020.

While performance metrics in December showed improvements and anecdotally, we have heard that many regional accom providers were fully booked over the holidays, many of you suffered last-minute cancellations

much of a tourism industry left” without renewed support when JobKeeper ends. Appearing on The Today Show, she called for an extension of the JobKeeper subsidy, or a new version of it to help local tourism operators from sinking.

TAA CEO Michael Johnson said: “The Australian tourism industry will need continued support given the absence of international visitors coming to Australia.’’

Mandy Clarke, Editor editor@accomnews.com.au and ongoing strain. Not to mention, March 28 will see the end of JobKeeper, which has been keeping businesses afloat during the crisis despite many accommodation businesses not qualifying for the program.

What happens now?

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond says that Australia “won’t have

A rollout of vaccines is a step in the right direction but the livelihood of many cannot wait for a vaccination programme because it is not an overnight solution. Vaccines must be part of a wider, coordinated approach that will need to consider passes for cross-border travel and in the longer-term, travel confidence would need to be restored.

EDITOR’S NOTE

2021 is certainly off with a bang!

Industry pushes forward...

As we try to restore normalcy, we all are preoccupied with providing the best service we can. I never fail to be inspired by those in the industry who against the odds show determination and flair.

In this edition of Resort News, you will find some reassuringly normal industry news, advice and voices alongside some inspirational stories and a focus on the practicalities of managing accommodation. The pandemic highlights the importance of top-notch cleaning practices, so make sure you check out our housekeeping section. Finally, do not miss the 2021 guide to guest entertainment supplement, because TVs have never been so important to guests!

Cheers, Mandy

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FRONT DESK

AccomNews - Summer 2021

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There is also growing concern with the skills shortages occurring, particularly across regions without working holiday makers and international students to support our businesses.

As I write this, central Brisbane and the Northern beaches of Sydney have just come out of lockdown.

The federal government has reduced the cap on the number of international arrivals (mainly returning Australians) allowed into the country to allow our health experts to understand new strains of the virus.

In line with our request to the national cabinet to implement best practice for the hotel quarantine program across the country, they have now introduced saliva testing for all those involved including transport, police, security, health workers, hotel employees and tougher testing regimes and quarantine procedures for those who do arrive.

Restrictions on hospitality venues and limitations on interstate travel continue in almost every state and territory and there is no sign of international tourism returning anytime soon.

In our big gateway cities, things are as bad if not worse than they have been at any time during the pandemic. In Sydney and Melbourne, CBDs many hotels are running at sub 20 percent occupancy.

The rash of border closures and event restrictions meant none of our CBD members got

Michael Johnson CEO, Tourism Accommodation Australia

a Christmas or New Year boost.

In the days after the Avalon cluster began expanding, thousands of much-needed holiday bookings were cancelled.

As border walls popped up between Greater Sydney and Queensland and then NSW and Victoria and then NSW and South Australia and Western Australia, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of long-awaited holiday bookings disappeared behind them.

TAA and AHA state CEOs, boards and presidents have worked tirelessly on localised responses in each state and territory and the whole organisation has been working toward nationwide solutions since the pandemic began.

Our efforts to open hospitality venues as soon as possible and gain extra support for those still caught up in the pandemic remain critical.

TAA is working closely with both state and federal governments to assist with school leavers doing gap years in regions and the redeployment of those employees in cities that lost their employment in 2020 due to the pandemic.

You still can however find some positives for the year ahead.

The most obvious is the arrival of a vaccine, which the Federal Government announced will begin to roll out as soon as February. And another is the growth of occupancies and visitor economies in our regions right around the country.

While hotels in Sydney, Melbourne and other metropolitan cites continue to struggle the summer school holidays season has seen great numbers in regional NSW, Queensland and Victoria. This has been mirrored in Tasmania, NT, WA and South Australia.

Not only is this bringing muchneeded revenue to these members it is also building a foundation for future growth.

Visitors were forced to travel in their own backyard, they were forced to visit new places and have new experiences.

The memories created this year will bring those visitors back and the word of mouth will bring their friends and family out of their cities to stay with our regional members in the future.

Tourism Accommodation Australia is gearing up for a big year. We will continue to work closely with the government on safely easing restrictions on hotels and their outlets wherever possible – just as we have since the start of the pandemic.

With the March JobKeeper finishing date fast approaching, we are continuing to supply data and working closely with Treasury for further support, particularly for those hotels hardest hit in Sydney and Melbourne.

The amalgamation of the accommodation associations is progressing positively with AAoA and we are well on the way to forming a single united voice for our industry. This will however take time with submissions to Fair Work Australia and ROC (registered organisations commission) currently underway.

While we are still unsure what 2021 will throw at us, there is one thing our hotels and partners can rely on.

Whatever challenges we face this year, TAA will be focused on advocating for and supporting our great industry as we navigate this road back to recovery. ŠMaridav - stock.adobe.com

TAA VOICE

Is 2021 our Groundhog Day?

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

INDUSTRY

www.accomnews.com.au

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barbecue cabinet At Christie Barbecues, we manufacture the original gas and electric barbecues for public use.

After 50 years as a trusted provider to the Leisure industry, our products are synonymous with quality, reliability, and value for money.

The new ICON barbecue cabinet is a modern interpretation of our industry-defining Modular cabinet launched 25 years ago.

The versatile design incorporates current trends and requirements around sustainability, inclusivity, and occupational health and safety.

and standing users of all abilities to reach the cooktop.

Plenty of bench space Shared barbecues are mostly used by families and groups.

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Christie barbecues are popular in holiday parks, beachfront settings, and resort apartment rooftops. Regardless of the location, the ICON cabinet has you covered. Available off the shelf in brushed stainless-steel, or powder-coated in Weathered steel or Dulux Monument, you can also select from an extensive range of colours.

The split doors allow cleaners to handle the waste tray at knee-height, rather than lift it off the floor.

A grease trap overflow system exits the cabinet to avoid excess waste build-up.

Simple to maintain

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Because Christie’s barbecue cooktops have no buttons in the door or benchtop, you can orientate them in either direction.

Every part of the ICON is replaceable on site.

Quick-release doors are easily removed for service, cleaning, or changing the opening swing direction.

The ICON cabinet is Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant, enabling seated

This allows users to maintain an appropriate distance while sharing the facility.

All panels and even the doors are interchangeable and readily available as spare parts.

Flat-packed convenience Communal barbecues are increasingly installed on rooftops and in other urban locations.

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

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ŠDaria Nipot - stock.adobe.com

AHA VOICE

The best pay rise is more hours

I recently joined a panel interview on ABC Radio National’s breakfast program to discuss wage growth and how it impacts the hospitality sector.

was a much bigger issue at present than wage growth.

The premise of the panel discussion was that wage growth in Australia has been stagnating for the last eight years, with no reprieve in sight, despite record growth of company profits.

Productivity is the key driver of wage growth and that productivity can be increased by lowering costs and by increasing demand. Unfortunately, the current governmentimposed trading restrictions related to COVID-19 place an artificial cap on demand.

The panel was made up of Professor Robert Breunig, the director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University, Angela Jackson, lead economist at Equity Economics, and me.

Professor Robert Breunig made the point that wage stagnation is a global phenomenon that has been affecting the western world since 2000.

He said there were many causes but tax policy is not favourable to investment and increased regulation has meant companies are not willing to invest.

Instead, they are posting big

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Our workers need more shifts and more hours.

But I also said wage growth cannot be looked at in isolation from other costs.

Stephen Ferguson CEO, Australian Hotels Association

profits, keeping the money, and redistributing it to shareholders.

Angela Jackson said even before the pandemic, slow wage growth was acting as a handbrake on Australian economic growth and the Reserve Bank was looking at what policies it could implement to change it.

She said there was not one single cause but mentioned interest rates being too high for too long and aiming for an unemployment rate of five percent, which was simply too high to generate wage growth in the economy.

Regarding our industry, I made the point that underemployment

Our biggest markets in Sydney and Melbourne are down at least 70 percent, with many hotels operating at five percent occupancy or closed. But there is nothing slowing ongoing costs.

If you look at a hospitality business like a pub, there are a range of costs that sit alongside wages and continue to increase regardless of demand.

Publicans need to consider the cost of goods, interest on borrowings, energy, insurance, rates, workers compensation, company tax, payroll tax,

INDUSTRY

stamp duty, and land tax.

Every time you hear of a recordbreaking Pay TV deal for the AFL or the NRL, remember that cost will be borne by our member hotels. Anyone familiar with how a hotel operates knows there is also an inordinate amount of time spent on regulation and red tape.

This is time allocated to inefficient tasks.

Hoteliers know better than anyone that wage growth is good for the economy. Money spent in pubs is discretionary spending and giving people more disposable income is what hospitality relies on.

The Fair Work Commission is the independent umpire which sets wages in the hospitality and accommodation sectors.

The minimum wage outstripped CPI by nine percent in the last seven years, but award changes are long processes.

At the moment, the best pay rise for workers, in our sector and many others, is simply more hours. www.accomnews.com.au

CIAA VOICE

Feast or famine greets the caravan industry Well, what a rollercoaster 2020 was!

While the end of the year could not come soon enough for many, for others the year presented unique opportunities.

The domestic road trip is certainly back in a big way as consumers redirect their international and cruise travel into something closer to home. And for the caravanning and camping industry, already the number one holiday accommodation for Australians, with more than 55 million nights spent in 2019, the signs loom large for a golden age ahead.

As an industry we find ourselves in the enviable position that the experiences provided by the sector very much appeal to current visitor demand and new tourism trends, with wide-open spaces, independent movement, and the opportunity to reconnect and rejuvenate.

Although, as an industry, our forward-looking optimism remains intact, the reality for some operators falls short of the hype, facing a feast or famine scenario as specific regions come to terms with constantly changing travel restrictions, borders, and health risks. Certainly the ‘V-shaped’ recovery experienced in many regions over the past few months, in a large part thanks to intrastate travel campaigns and tourism vouchers from state and territory governments, is a far cry from how some are experiencing their own individual recovery.

In 2020, Caravan Industry Association of Australia in partnership Tourism Australia developed and launched the ‘Travel Your Road’ drive campaign, highlighting the benefits of a domestic road trip holiday. This national campaign collated nine of the best camping businesses to offer RV and camping deals, supported with itineraries, location profiles and blogger content designed to appeal to the young, the families and the 50 plus markets. Collaborative www.accomnews.com.au

Madeleine Sawyer Tourism Executive, Caravan Industry Association of Australia

efforts such as this contributed to try salvage domestic travel and in particular regional tourism, but many challenges remain. In some ways, 2021 will be more challenging. Regional areas that rely on tourism to drive and sustain their local economies are under threat and it will be important to provide consumers the confidence to travel further afield and to encourage longer booking lead times.

To illustrate the point, New Year’s Eve along the north side of the NSW-Victorian border was a chance for many operators to attempt to recoup some of the earnings lost over months of travel uncertainty and restrictions on business operations. What should have been a moment of relief for many, turned into a chaotic debacle with travellers spooked and operators left to pick up the pieces as the Victorian border was slammed shut.

The power of a strong intrastate market is also not lost of those in Tasmania, where restricted interstate access and a

comparatively small population continue to see the island underperform the rest of the country. Compared to December 2019, national site occupancy in December was up 13 percent while Tasmanian site occupancy was down 24 percent, December cabin occupancy nationally was also up 18 percent while Tasmanian cabin occupancy was down 25 percent.

Where diversification of inbound markets becomes virtually nonexistent, it is understandably difficult to adapt quickly. Those businesses in transient hub locations, in regions where there is a heavy reliance on events to attract visitation or where the experience is designed to suit the interstate or international visitor as opposed to that of the local population, can be left high and dry through no fault of their own.

In some of these locations, caravan parks may have had to turn to offering more residential sites, reduce capital expenses, lay off local employees or even close to the public all together. This

Images courtesy of CIAA

INDUSTRY

has significant implications for the local tourism system with a whole network of local businesses who would have serviced visitors to the region such as visitor attractions, cafes and restaurants also negatively impacted by the loss of the caravanning consumer.

On the flip side, and while consumers remain risk averse, caravan parks within one to four hours of major capital cities are by and large being inundated.

While increased demand is a good problem to have, it does come with its own set of challenges. Labour shortages are making staffing in regional locations a challenge and community discomfort or resentment towards increased visitation during a time of a health crisis can also be hard to manage.

We can consider ourselves the lucky country, as we enjoy relative freedom and movement compared to many other destinations around the world. That being said, as an industry we benefit from certainty, and the constant border closures at short notice, has even the most hardened caravanner and camper nervous.

The current situation requires the steely resolve of our decision makers to better balance the health risks versus the potential economic benefits a little bit of courage can generate. We are happy as an industry to be part of the solution, but for those businesses already reeling from bushfires and COVID restrictions, we must at least be given the opportunity.

AccomNews - Summer 2021

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ATHOC VOICE

Timeshare in Australia is holding its own not hinder it, with a framework suited to a holiday product.

Timeshare in Australia is holding its own at resorts in the new normal COVID-19 world we are living in, even though new regulations could hurt tourism and timeshare owners.

While the Australian tourism industry is hurting like never before, the timeshare industry continues to provide jobs, visitor spending and $468 million in GDP per annum. Timeshare is also a significant tourism sector and fuels regional economies all year round which is where most timeshare properties located.

Timeshare owners are holidaying more in their home properties and clubs than ever before, with occupancy currently running in the high 80s for the majority of resorts. They are also using their ownership opportunities to visit resorts in locations in Australia that they have not been to before.

With COVID-19 having smashed the tourism sector of which timeshare is a major industry, timeshare is yet again proving its importance to local economies providing stimulus to those local communities that they visit.

It is interesting to note that more than 70 percent of timeshare sales are to existing timeshare owners, many of whom are repeat purchasers, who love and utilise their respective clubs as travel is a major part of their lifestyle agenda. Although new purchases of timeshare were limited during the COVID-19 lockdowns like many other products.

With new changes to the industry regulatory guide RG 160, the Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC) welcomes and actively supports consumer protection but is concerned ASIC’s new requirements for timeshare clubs will have significant negative impact on Australian tourism and existing owners.

The industry has worked hard for many years now to

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Facts: •

Laura Younger General Manager, Australian Timeshare Holiday Ownership Council

While a lifestyle product, timeshare is one of the most highly regulated holiday products; timeshare clubs in Australia classed as managed investment schemes under the Corporations Act and regulated by ASIC.

•

Some of the world's most respected hotel chains offer timeshare in Australia.

•

There are 101 timeshare resorts in Australia.

•

We are concerned that the regulatory changes do have unintended negative consequences for existing owners, and we will be taking these concerns up with ASIC.

1,085,900 holiday nights are occupied per annum by timeshare owners in Australia each year.

•

The industry also holds concerns that the sector has been inappropriately pigeonholed as a financial investment which it is not. Timeshare has and will always be a holiday or lifestyle product.

This equates to an occupancy rate for timeshare of 87.3 percent nationally compared to average national hotel occupancy of 75 percent.

•

There are 184,500 timeshare owners Australia owners who each spend on average over of $3,538 per travel party per trip.

•

Australian timeshare owners and their guests spend $443.1 million offsite at tours, attractions, and dining while on holiday in Australia per annum, yielding total direct revenue, or output, of

make it easy for consumers to make a considered and informed choice about whether timeshare is the best holiday lifestyle choice for them.

We look forward to continuing to work with our elected representatives to ensure that the timeshare industry can make the fastest recovery possible from the pandemic, by having a regulatory framework that supports its recovery and does

Basildene Mannor, Accor Vacation Club in Margaret River – Image courtesy of ATHOC

INDUSTRY

approximately $958.5 million.

•

With that many owners not holidaying aboard this year, we can expect that figure to more than triple.

•

$14.5 million in timeshare exchange company revenue, $231.5 million in timeshare resort revenue is generated annually.

Approximately $23.6 million spent in capital improvement expenditure with resort refurbishments and developments was spent by the timeshare industry in Australia annually.

•

This activity of the timeshare industry directly supported over 4,350 FTE jobs in the Australian economy, paying over $300 million in wages and salaries.

•

$468.9 million in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated per annum by the timeshare industry.

•

Timeshare owners own points which have an expiry date, so it encourages them to holiday.

•

Timeshare owners spend more on holiday because their holidays are essentially prepaid.

•

Timeshare has evolved as an industry. Most timeshare owners in Australia have access to a large network of resorts.

•

Timeshare is a significant tourism sector which fuels regional economies all year round.

•

Timeshare properties are typically suited to social distancing with large apartments in expansive resorts.

•

The timeshare companies have responded rapidly to COVID-19 by introducing globally recognised hygiene practices and protocols. www.accomnews.com.au

Every device purchase decision

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•

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•

80-90% of passwords can be breached in less than 24 hours^

•

81% of IT decision makers agree that browsers are the primary attack route^

•

68% of compromised endpoints in the last 2 years involved laptops^

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INDUSTRY

AccomNews - Summer 2021

11

How the hotel industry is cleaning up its act with COVID hygiene precautions.

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

More than 130,000 tonnes of Australian plastic reach our waterways and oceans each year, choking marine life and killing our future.

The Australian accommodation sector continues to light the way with an energy-efficient torch when it comes to sustainable living.

Following a trend by many properties towards more ecofriendly amenities in recent years, including the installation of shampoo pumps, strict health requirements for COVID management surrounding the pandemic have seen singleuse luxury amenities return to hotels in large numbers.

The towering new Crowne Plaza Adelaide is just one example of a modern hotel being designed in harmony with the environment, and general manager Sarah Goldfinch says a strong commitment to sustainability is displayed with many of the property’s new initiatives.

The hotel has paperless check-in/ check-out, bamboo key cards, internal room controllers, that allow staff to better manage guest room energy consumption, and digital compendiums and electronic newspapers that reduce paper wastage.

There is also a ban on plastic straws and bottles.

Many other hotels are now going totally paperless too and replacing their PVC room card keys with either bamboo cards or smartphone technology. Plastic bottles, which once became mountains of landfill, are becoming much rarer in hotels as they make way for water dispensers and reusable containers.

More and more hotels are also introducing more energy efficient lighting and smartphone-friendly rooms that switch off lighting and air-conditioning automatically when a room is vacant.

A study by Booking.com showed that most travellers now expect some elements of sustainability when they travel, with 65 percent of global travellers intending to stay somewhere eco-friendly.

Internationally, alternate sources of power for the accommodation sector - solar, geothermal, hydro and wind turbines have improved the bottom line for hotel energy bills while helping to reduce a property’s carbon footprint.

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Mr Angel fears an increase in pollution and litter could be a sad side-effect of the COVID crisis.

Green living wall - Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash

Within guest rooms, laundries, kitchens, pools, and spas, hotels continue to implement efficiencies that reduce water and, in many cases, the chemicals that are used to treat water systems and clean facilities. Many hotels employ more efficient linen and towel reuse programs, and low flow taps, showerheads, and other fixtures.

Increasingly, hotels are using more natural essential oil-based, bathroom amenities made without preservatives or artificial ingredients and that are packaged in recyclable containers.

Similarly, many hotels have shifted to cleaning products that are more environmentally friendly rather than chlorine bleach and petrochemical derivatives.

Food preparation is increasingly based around local fresh seasonal produce, reducing the need for transport or preservatives, and providing healthier fare.

In terms of stopping food wastage, renowned social scientist Sara Dolnicar, a University of Queensland professor, is studying strategies that can not only futureproof the environmental and economic sustainability of the industry but make hotel stays even more enjoyable for guests.

She estimates that in a postCOVID world there will be 1.8 billion people travelling internationally within 10 years and between five and six billion travelling domestically. The combined power of those numbers can make astronomical changes to the environment by simple solutions such as reducing wastage at buffets and rewarding guests who do not insist that their room be cleaned every day.

“Typically, cleaning a hotel room uses 35 litres of water, 100 millilitres of chemicals and 1.5kw hours of electricity,” she said.

“If just one per cent, not 50 percent, not 10 percent, but just one per cent of holidaymakers decided not to insist on their hotel rooms being cleaned every day it would provide a staggering five million people daily with enough water for food preparation and drinking.”

Meanwhile, hotels are being asked by environmental groups to continue the fight against plastic waste.

Jeff Angel, the director of peak environmental group the Boomerang Alliance, has urged the Australian hotel industry to be as vigilant with recycling as it is

MANAGEMENT

“The move to reusable containers in hotel rooms was a welcome one for the sake of the environment,” he said, “and it’s a shame to see those moves being reversed because COVID demands single-use containers.

“What hotels should be doing now is seriously investigating the collection of these singleuse containers for recycling to keep them out of the litter or the landfill waste stream.

“We very strongly hope that the re-introduction of singleuse amenity containers is a temporary arrangement.”

Mr Angel’s concerns were echoed

by Michael Johnson, the CEO of Tourism Accommodation Australia, who said the reintroduction of single-use containers was “another sad reality” of the COVID crisis.

“A lot of hotels were making moves to become much more environmentally friendly by using such things as pumps for shampoo and conditioner,” Mr Johnson said, “but in this COVID-19 environment throw away containers are needed to minimise contact.

“At Tourism Accommodation Australia we are looking at ways of coming out of COVID still making those environmental improvements.

“We all have a responsibility for tomorrow’s environment.” www.accomnews.com.au

The integrated water specialists Simmonds & Bristow have for over 50 years been there for our clients through good times and bad, offering sound scientific advice, engineering design support, operational & mantenance including providing experienced operators and offering water industry training to get the job done. We have a solid history of supporting our clients to make good clean water.

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We work closely with our clients at all stages of the project, to better tailor the work to meet the requirements, while also sharing

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This collaborative approach, which relies on our diverse array of knowledge, skills and experience, are part of the reason we are able to help our clients make good clean water, from catchment to cup and back again.

Call us on 1800 620 690 or email sales@simmondsbristow.com.au.

MANAGEMENT

AccomNews - Summer 2021

13

Are you ready for the free online booking revolution? sheet. It’s often the little things like having the live room rate displayed directly on the booking sheet that our customers love.”

With totally free online booking services for the accommodation sector now readily available, we take a look at one of the latest newcomers to Australian shores: freeonlinebooking.com.

Commission management “One of the biggest problems we see in the Australian market is that of high OTA commissions.

Our premium service includes a revolutionary commission management feature that can markedly increase profitability.

We have one customer in the UK who told me she saved enough money on this feature alone to buy a new car!” says Hill.

Whilst only just having launched officially in Australia in December 2020, freeonlinebooking.com have over 20 years tourism industry experience in New Zealand and the UK, offering technology services to accommodation businesses big and small. They have a long history of helping the industry maximise occupancy and profitability via the use of low cost online services. In the early 2000s in New Zealand, they launched the online Duty Motel system which helped moteliers around the country direct customers to those properties with vacancies, replacing informal and outdated telephone trees, and fax-based systems.

gimmick. “Customers get our full online booking service, that we previously charged hundreds of dollars a year, for nothing. It is not limited in any way and there are no caveats. We even throw in an online booking diary for free so customers can track bookings.”

In later years they launched one of the first commission free online booking services in New Zealand at a time when virtually every other website charged 10+% commission. Branching out to the UK, they found an industry that was clipping the ticket at every opportunity.

Freeonlinebooking.com make their money from offering a premium service, which adds on a fully featured property management system, channel management, reporting, email marketing and a whole host of other features to their free online booking service.

Nick Hill, freeonlinebooking. com’s managing director explains “One of our biggest competitors in the UK at the time tagged 6% commission on all online bookings; not just from the big online travel agent websites but also those made via the hotel’s own website. By introducing our zero-commission booking widget into the market, we very quickly bought down costs across the whole industry in a very short period of time”.

Asked about what makes them different, Natasha Saxton, freeonlinebooking. com’s Australia sales manager

says “Our number one focus is providing a really easy to use service. This not only saves customers time, but makes it quick and easy to train staff.

We totally get that many in the industry are not tech geniuses and just want a system that works well without having to study a training manual beforehand. We also pride ourselves on our amazing support to help out customers when they get stuck.”

Saxton adds “The first thing customers see when loggingonto our system is their booking sheet. Whether they wish to find and view a reservation, move guests from room to room by drag and drop or adjusting rates or minimum stays, it can all be done from the booking

Free Online Booking Hill sees their new free online booking service as nothing short as revolutionary. He says that “the industry has put up with expensive, bloated and slow booking systems for far too long”. Hill insists that their new free service is not a

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Freeonlinebooking.com also offer a number of other features designed to maximise profitability. Hill explains “Our dynamic rates feature automatically adjusts room rates depending on occupancy and is easily setup with a set of simple rules. In addition, our intelligent minimum stay feature ensures that all of your rooms are available at all times by automatically adjusting minimum stays where required to ensure you don’t have rooms that can’t be booked.”

Six months free Partly due to the COVID-19 recovery and partly as a special launch offer, freeonlinebooking. com are offering their premium service completely free of charge for six months for all Australian properties. “We would love the opportunity to show Australian operators just what we could do to aid their businesses in what is a difficult time. This is a totally unprecedented offer and there has never been a better time to review your technology and reduce costs.

Come and join our free online booking revolution!” says Hill.

Freeonlinebooking.com can be contacted via their website (www.freeonlinebooking.com) or by phoning 028-0068175.

MANAGEMENT

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freeonlinebooking.com

Join the free online booking revolution!

The reservation system experts Our innovative cloud-based reservation system is designed to be really easy to use and is packed with all of the features you need to run a successful accommodation business. The system is suitable for all property types, including B&Bs, motels, hotels, backpackers, self-catering, homestays, farmstays and holiday parks.

Choose from our totally FREE Basic Service or our all-in-one Premium Service which features property management system with channel manager and online booking service.

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Built-in email marketing and automatic pre-post stay emails makes it easy to build your business, and keep your customers fully informed about their stay with you.

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OP-ED:

Up your game

- book direct is not free Now review the exercise:

Nobody likes paying commission.

We all like to get something for free. But, and this is a big but, nothing in life comes for free. Before you read on, please complete the following activity: Go to Expedia or Booking.com and book a room. You want to book two nights for next weekend for two adults and one child. You can only use your mobile phone. You will need to answer the following questions before you book:

5.

Parking availability and cost

1.

Cost of the room and breakfast

6.

Wifi availability and cost

2.

Cancellation terms and conditions

7.

What is included in the room, do you need to bring your own hairdryer?

3.

Review score – is this property safe and fit for purpose

4.

Reception opening times and check-in procedure

Tamie Mathews CEO and founder, RevenYou

Once you have all the details you need and before you enter a credit card, go to the hotel’s own website, and repeat the process. You need to gather the same information.

1.

Which was easier to use, the OTA or the hotels own website?

2.

Where did you struggle and what did you find easy?

3.

Where would you book in future?

4.

Were the rates in parity?

5.

Could you find the hotels own website?

6.

What was your emotional reaction to each site?

The OTAs make it incredibly easy for customers to book and for us to compete, we need to up our game. Direct bookings are not free. If you want to increase your direct business, you need to work at it. I have listed a few key areas to review when starting any form of book direct strategy.

Websites: Building a new website is not a case of ‘build it and they will come’.

In 2021, a website is essential to any form of business, but it is not a passive tool for attracting new clients. You must be constantly working, updating, and tweaking your website to ensure that customers find you and book you.

1.

A website that is modern, easy to use and appealing

2.

No more than five years old

3.

Professional photos – the difference between a photo you snap on your phone and a photo from a professional is the editing.

Professional photos sell.

4.

Recent and relevant content – ensure your website is updated regularly with new content. Google algorithms rank websites that are active and constantly changing.

Whenever you make large changes, ensure that Google trawls your website.

5.

Adwords - speak to a professional with regards to what an adequate budget would be

6.

SEO - pay the extra to ensure your website is search-friendly

7.

Analytics - add these to your website and know how to use them to improve your website

8.

Data collection collect, store, and use email addresses

9.

Booking engine customers must be able to book online 24:7

10. Parity with the OTAs Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

MANAGEMENT

11.

Chat - ensure people can talk to you in a variety of ways www.accomnews.com.au

Your website must be attractive and easy to use. Test your website frequently to ensure it meets with Google’s requirements.

Use sites such as Woorank or Supple to perform a free audit on the mechanics of your website then speak to your web designer to ensure your site is fit for purpose.

Social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat: choose the channel that your customers use and then do it regularly and do it well.

Social media is a way to communicate with your customers on a regular basis. You can have fun, be more approachable and light-hearted on social. You can show your personality.

1.

Ensure the basics are all up to date: address, phone, photos

2.

30, 30, 30, 10 rules: 30 percent of your posts are designed to inspire, 30 percent of posts are designed to help a customer plan their holiday, 30 percent of posts are designed to increase engagement, ask a question, 10 percent of posts are soft sell.

3.

Respond to reviews

4.

Know your audience, talk directly to the users of each platform as they represent different demographics

5.

Create a hashtag for your business and use it in every post

6.

Tag local businesses and suppliers so their followers see you

Social media is just another way in which we communicate with our customers in 2021.

Use it to funnel new customers through to your website.

Photo Merakist on Unsplash

Electronic direct marketing (EDMs): Emails are a great way of creating a steady stream of customers to your website. The more people that visit your website, the better it will rank. Any offers on an email should only be loaded on your direct website and the offer must be enticing. Your previous customer may not return but they may share the offer with their friends and family. The email will also remind them that you exist and ensure that your name is kept front and centre in their mind for when they begin to plan their next trip.

Corporate clients and travel management companies: Creating loyalty is about building a relationship. 2020 was a very stressful year for everyone and 2021 is going to be just as hard so start the year by picking up the phone and contacting your 2019 database. You want to identify the following: 1.

Do not ignore it and don’t fall into the trap of believing that your target demographic is not using social media because they are ‘old’.

The fastest growing audience for social media is the ‘baby boomer’ market. Talk to them.

If you are not sure how to get started on social media, google free courses, and complete a few.

There are lots of introductory courses on offer that will give you the confidence to get started. www.accomnews.com.au

Who books accommodation?

A lot of people were made redundant in 2020 and the person you dealt with in 2019 may have changed so reach out and form a relationship with the new person and let them know about you and your property.

2.

Become fast friends with the booker. You want to ensure they want to call you.

3.

Agree a rate for 2021 in writing.

4.

Mystery shop your competitors, are your

agreed rates competitive?

5.

Understand the changing demands of your clients and their head offices.

6.

Understand how your clients like to book and make that easy for them.

7.

Have your COVID-19 safe statements to hand to share with all potential bookers.

8.

Loyalty - how will you say thank you?

Travel patterns will continue to change in 2021 and we need to be reaching out regularly to our loyal clients to discuss what is happening at their end and working this into our sales strategy.

Remember that for a lot of large corporate clients, decisions on travel are being made at the head office level and that could be in America, London or Milan.

Telephone: One of the most positive things to come out of COVID-19 is the increase in direct bookings. On average, my clients are seeing a rate of 60 percent of business coming to the hotel directly. That is via phone or booking engine.

If potential clients are now picking up the phone and calling, then your responsibility as an owner operator is to ensure that the phone is answered well.

1.

Answer within three rings and greet the caller with a smile.

2.

Take the booking straight away. If you want to close the

office during the middle of the day and take a few hours off, redirect the phones and carry a cheap tablet. You can always book your own hotel on your own website as per any customer. A customer who is asked to leave a message and promised a call back will move on and source another property.

3.

Mystery call your own hotel to check the quality of selling happening on your phone.

4.

Mystery call your competitor hotels to check how they sell over the phone.

5.

Train your staff to sell and train them on the costs and benefits of taking a direct booking, as well as how to overcome objections without dropping rate.

Phone bookings can and should be the largest source of bookings for any hotel. Check your statistics and ensure you know where your bookings are coming from and have a plan in action to redress the balance.

Taking back control from the OTAs involves hard work. It will not be easy, but it can be done.

As I mentioned above, our hotels average 60 percent of their business coming direct and we target increasing that monthly.

Direct bookings are not and never will be free, it takes work.

Tamie’s passion is helping hoteliers across Asia Pacific upskill their knowledge, understanding and skills in revenue management and distribution. RevenYou manages rates and distribution for a variety of properties all around the country.

MANAGEMENT

AccomNews - Summer 2021

17

Continued growth spurs opportunity for Quest aspirants Quest is the largest and fastest growing apartment hotel operator in Australasia with more than 170 properties located throughout Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Fiji.

Impressively, the company is also the largest network of franchised apartment hotels in the world, with the Quest business format franchise system providing owners with a proven system for more than 30 years.

“When it comes to passion and service excellence, there is no industry quite like accommodation. Right around the globe, the sector is teeming with professionals who live and breathe what they do”, said Quest’s chief operating officer David Mansfield.

“For a lot of people, the dream of owning their own hotel might seem out of reach, but Quest has a system that presents everyday people the opportunity to do exactly that, with the business infrastructure to make it a success”.

Quest continues to open on average 8-10 new properties each year. This growth creates opportunities for existing franchisees to expand their portfolio, and newcomers to enter the network.

“Some Quest franchisees go on to own multiple properties. It speaks volumes for the level of trust the network has in the model, and success they have with it”.

In 2020, amidst unquestionably

Quest Chief Operations Officer David Mansfield and franchisees of Quest Preston

challenging market conditions, Quest upheld a significant stream of new property openings with six new apartment hotels coming to life throughout Australia and New Zealand, with a clear emphasis on regional areas.

“Quest goes where the corporate traveller needs to be, and that commitment takes us to regional and suburban areas time and time again.

“These areas are rich with economic activity; education, healthcare, agriculture, mining, the arts - and yet very often there is a discernible shortage of quality accommodation, making things logistically challenging for corporate and leisure travellers, and ultimately taking valuable tourism dollars out of the local economy.

“Our properties, located in thriving regional towns like

Wangaratta, Ballarat, Orange, Penrith and more satisfy clear demand, resulting in profitable businesses for franchisees, and enriching local communities”.

Established in Melbourne, Victoria in 1988, the growth and success of the Quest brand has been achieved through its commitment to the extended stay business market. While the segment has been heavily impacted by the global pandemic, it is one the company and its leaders remain committed to.

“2020 has posed exceptionally challenging operating conditions, but what’s telling is the rate at which we are recovering.

“As domestic borders have continued to open, we have seen a steady uptick in corporate bookings. Employers are eager to get their staff back to business and reconnect

AccomNews - Summer 2021

“Most in professional industries would attest that the thing that’s been lacking in 2020 has been face-to-face connection.

Business travel is core to keeping team culture and stakeholder relationships buoyant”, said Mansfield.

Looking to the year ahead, Mr Mansfield says there will be numerous opportunities for prospective franchisees.

“We have nine signed agreements for lease in Australia alone, all of which will commence construction in 2021.

“For anyone who has been curious about the prospect of owning their own hotel, I’d encourage them to reach out to our Franchise Establishment team for chat. There are certainly some wonderful opportunities on the horizon”.

The Quest network continues to grow, with 170+ properties across Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Fiji.

The latest property to open, Quest Ballarat Station

18

with clients and colleagues.

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TURN DREAMS INTO REALITY Contact the Quest franchising team to learn how you can join hundreds of successful business owners operating their very own Quest Apartment Hotel.

LEARN MORE QUESTFRANCHISING.COM.AU

Rydges Gold Coast Airport Hotel

as Rydges Airport flying high

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

“He's a great guy who has become one of my best mates.

$5 million on it, and sold it to Mirvac for $17 million.

Dennis Clark, the founder of Hotel Interiors, has been friends with accommodation magnate John “Foxy” Robinson for 20 years and leapt at the chance to help him outfit what he calls the “outrageously good” Rydges Gold Coast Airport hotel.

“Foxy is certainly a mover and shaker but comes from a humble background as a meatworker. If you walk down the street with Foxy everyone knows him. He is still a larrikin and a cowboy at heart.”

He also built the Darwin Airport Resort and Darwin Airport Inn.

“Foxy” is a former outback slaughterman who has been making a killing as an accommodation entrepreneur and Mr Clark says the new 192room hotel at Bilinga is unlike anything Australia has seen.

“It’s like a luxury resort at the airport,” Mr Clark said. “The hotel is so good – just 50 metres from the air terminal – and with such a wonderful vibe that it will become a real destination for locals as well as tourists flying in.

“I’ve been buying furniture for Foxy Robinson for 20 years since I met him while working on a property in Darwin and my company has literally supplied thousands of beds for him since then.

20

AccomNews - Summer 2021

Dennis Clark says he became involved at the planning stage of the Rydges Gold Coast Airport hotel and introduced Foxy to the architect Noel Robinson.

Mr Robinson was given the nickname “Foxy” as a boy because of his red hair but has proved to be as wily as anyone in the hotel business.

“Foxy wanted to do something unique,” Mr Clark said.

Born in Bourke, New South Wales, one of seven children, he claims to be a distant relative of Ned Kelly and left school at 13.

In 1965, aged 16, he started working as a slaughterman across Australia’s top end.

Fifteen years later he took a landscaping job at the Katherine swimming pool and became the manager there. He saw a goldmine in tourism.

Foxy started buying struggling hotels, motels, and caravan parks in Katherine, improving them and selling them.

He is said to have bought the Palms Resort caravan park and service station, just outside Darwin for $5.5 million, spent

“The whole place is like a resort at the airport. On the top floor you have the Salty Fox bar. You’re watching planes take off and then you look the other way out to the east and you're seeing all the surf. To the north is the Gold Coast skyline. The sunset views to the west are magnificent.”

Mr Clark has been in the hotel design business for 35 years and worked on the floor plans for the new hotel.

“We designed all the furniture, so everything was custom made,” he said, “from the luggage racks to the wardrobes, to the minibar units to the desks, the deck chairs, beds, bedside tables, lamps, artwork, mirrors, armchairs. Everything inside the rooms we supplied.

“Foxy wanted to have that

PROFILES

beach feel - so there are big beach-themed murals across the walls – and all the furniture was designed to have that real coastal feel as well, with a beachy whitewash but very contemporary at the same time.

“Foxy has got these super comfortable beds that are very expensive. His big emphasis is always that the beds have to be the best.

“He says if you want to save money don't save on the beds because people have to be comfortable to make any hotel a success.”

New hotel is first for Gold Coast Airport!

The first and only new Gold Coast Airport hotel is the new 192-room hotel, Rydges Gold Coast Airport.

This new Gold Coast accom offering is located within a one-minute walk of the Gold Coast International Terminal.

The modern property is uniquely placed to serve as an airport style hotel, while also appealing to the leisure market due to being positioned five minutes from Bilinga and Kirra Beaches and a short drive from Surfers Paradise, Queensland’s theme parks and the popular hub of Byron Bay. www.accomnews.com.au

Making it easy for you, Hotel Interiors has bundled 3 Guest Room furniture packages designed to make refurbishing your guest rooms simple, stylish and affordable.

We will come to you!

Work with our Design Team to customise colours and finishes to suit your property. These packages not for you? Contact us to discuss your accommodation refurbishment project today!

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Inclusions: 1x Side Table 1x Floop Lamp 1x Dining Table 2x Dining Chairs 1x Luggage Rack 1x Desk Chair

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Headboard Bedside Tables Bedside Table Lamps Bed Throw Cushions Bed End Runner Artwork Occassional Chair Desk & Mini Bar

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$6,220.00 +GST

Priding ourselves in delivering projects on time, on budget and at a high standard, Hotel Interiors has had the pleasure of working with an array of clients, from small to multi-national. We are proud to have delivered over 350 hotel projects from small hotels to major accommodation chains, including Hilton, Sheraton, Rydges and Peppers.

1300 876 055 hotelinteriors.com.au

Call Dennis Clark now on 0421 384 212 or email admin@hotelinteriors.com.au to discuss your requirements

The new hotel features wellappointed deluxe, premium, and executive rooms over seven levels, with facilities to accommodate short and long stays and the varying needs of corporate and leisure travellers.

It has been designed to reflect the unique lifestyle of the Gold Coast, with themed murals and artworks that bring to life elements of the Sunshine State, from local flora to the famous surf beaches and the iconic Gold Coast skyline.

The property also boasts a 24-hour reception, resort style swimming pool, fully equipped gym, complimentary wifi, free undercover car parking

and conferencing and event spaces to cater to groups of between 10 and 250 people.

Guests and visitors to the Rydges Gold Coast Airport can also enjoy the Runway Restaurant and Bar, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and Salty Fox Rooftop Bar, which offers spectacular views to the east over the ocean and to the west over the tarmac to the hinterland.

Luke Harley, general manager, Rydges Gold Coast Airport Hotel said, “We’ve opened the doors to a truly unique hotel, we’re an airport hotel by location offering a guest experience that will position us just as comfortably with the leisure market.

Resort Supplies became the “one stop shop” for new Rydges Gold Coast Airport Hotel utensils. Not to mention, they also installed a variety of foyer, bar and conference furnishings along with artwork supplied by the client.

A family-owned business, Resort Supplies was approached by the new airport hotel owners to provide a variety of in-room products and amenities, ranging from kitchen and bathroom caddies to consumables, also restaurant and outdoor furniture.

Inside the guest rooms, Resort Supplies provided all the sheets, pillows, blankets and towels, the tea and coffee caddies, tissue caddies, amenities tray and amenities range, security coat hangers, toilet tidies, porta cots and additional single ensemble

22

AccomNews - Summer 2021

Sarah Townsend from Resort Supplies told us: “The client was very happy with how everything came together at Rydges Gold Coast Airport. As a small family business, we pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service which we offer around the clock. beds. In the public bathroom, they supplied toilet roll and hand towel dispensers plus products, rubbish bins, as well as housekeeping necessities like vacuums, storage shelving, chemicals

and cleaning products, mops, and even window squeegees.

In the pool area, bar, and restaurant they provided sunlounges, side tables, table ware and settings, highchairs, serve ware and

PROFILES

We are thrilled to be a preferred supplier of all the abovementioned items, and we are currently onsite at least once a week delivering consumables and any other items that might be ordered week to week.”

www.accomnews.com.au

“No other airport hotel in Australia can offer guests a 25-metre resort-style pool, outstanding roof top bar with uninterrupted ocean and tarmac views – just one minute walk from the airport terminal – while also being so conveniently located to all the surrounding sights, sounds taste and experiences the Gold Coast and surrounds has to offer”.

Norman Arundel, Director of Hotels and Resorts, Event Hospitality & Entertainment said, “We are thrilled to open the doors of Rydges Gold Coast Airport and look forward to playing an active role in supporting the local tourism and hospitality sectors.

“The unique position of the Rydges Gold Coast Airport makes it the ideal locale for both corporate and leisure travellers.

The property delivers the facilities you would expect from a traditional airport hotel, while also catering to and offering the perfect base for holiday makers to explore all the Gold Coast and its surrounds have to offer.

its gates each year, and we look forward to contributing to efforts to drive tourism on the Gold Coast, and beyond, as borders reopen domestically and internationally”.

“Prior to the impact of COVID-19 on travel, the Gold Coast Airport was the sixth busiest airport in Australia, with more than 6 million people passing through

The hotel will be managed

by Trepang Services Pty Ltd and Event Hospitality and Entertainment Limited under the Rydges Hotels brand.

Image courtesy of Rydges Gold Coast Airport

Resort Supplies are proud to have supplied the guest room amenities for the Rydges Gold Coast Airport. Congratulations to everyone involved in the opening of this great property!

Phone (07) 5522 1119 www.resortsupplies.com.au www.accomnews.com.au

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

23

North Star Holiday Park

North Star shines with smashing slide refurb

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

The multi-award-winning North Star Holiday Park at Hastings Point in NSW has been splashing out on major refurbishments and making waves in the accommodation sector as a result.

Forty years since owners Diana and Ian Beadel purchased the park and transformed it from a 10-hectare swamp into one of Australia’s top holiday destinations, they are reaping the rewards of their most recent improvements.

New water slides completed in September 2018 have made the park’s waterplay area world-class.

Management recognised there was a void in the camp’s appeal as a holiday destination for older kids and installed twin tubular super slides, 64m long and 8.2m high.

Guests have compared the facility to the fabulous Waterbom in Bali.

Back in 2011, North Star opened its $1.3 million waterpark called Sammy’s Adventure Lagoon, featuring a maze of water slides and water cannons, and The Big Dripper, a 600-litre bucket that slowly fills with water and dumps a

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

torrent of water every six minutes.

But management decided that children between the ages of 12 and 16 had outgrown Sammys and needed an added attraction to keep them entertained.

The new slides were an instant hit.

Guest Jacki Coates said the water park kept kids “amused all day long with no added cost to the accommodation” while fellow guest Faith Denny added: “The water park was a real highlight for our extended family - we have kids ranging from three to 16 years old and the park was well used by all - even by some of the 'big kids'.”

Theo Whitmont, the President of the Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW, called the new waterslides “extraordinary” and claimed the Beadels had built “possibly the best holiday park in Australia, piece by piece and year by year, ever-improving, always looking for ways to bring great holidays to Aussie families.”

Located just 30 minutes south of Gold Coast Airport on the beautiful Tweed Coast, North Star Holiday Resort is nestled between the pristine Hastings Point beach and the safe tidal estuary of Cudgera Creek.

Accommodation at North Star ranges from luxury poolside spa

villas to spacious family cabins, caravan, and camp sites. Cabins and villas are fully self-contained.

In June 2019, North Star opened four new Hamptons-style Coastal Cottage duplexes, with eight individual apartments in total.

Featuring on-trend décor in deep blue and white, the cottages created 789 room nights of forward bookings within a few weeks of becoming available on the property’s website.

Guest Danielle Keoller from Coffs Harbour said: “Our coastal cottage was clean and beautifully presented and the park was fabulous … Plenty of whales to be seen.”

Ian Beadel said one of his priorities was to have guests recommend North Star to their friends, family, and work colleagues.

“We’ve come a long way over the past 40 years and are proud to now welcome ‘generations’ of guests,’’ he said, “many of whom have spent annual family holidays at North Star since we first opened.

“Some first came to North Star as children. Now they holiday here with families of their own.

It is not unusual to have three generations of one family, all holidaying together at North Star.”

A major upgrade at North Star’s on-

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site licensed cafe, Ripples, added a large new covered deck for guests to enjoy outdoor dining, drinks, cocktails, and snacks all year round. The deck is transformed into a live music venue with Saturday Happy Hour prices, too.

In October, marine biologist Ted Brambleby, a co-founder of the Hastings Point Marine Discovery Centre located at North Star, delivered his final session ahead of a major refurbishment of the popular museum over upcoming months.

In the 1960s, Ted began collecting specimens for the Marine Discovery Centre, which has grown to become one of the largest independent collections in Australia. Since 2008 the centre and its collections have been based in the Resort.

The new Marine Discovery Centre will incorporate state-of-theart technology in a world-class display of marine and coastal science. Traditional displays will blend seamlessly with interactive digital terminals and audio and visual elements to enhance the learning experience.

Its versatility will also allow the centre to host lectures, social events, a wide range of classes, guest speaker evenings, group gatherings and even meditation.

www.accomnews.com.au

Why an Integrated Booking Engine

is your key to reservation success More than 700 million people are expected to place their bookings online by 2023.

However, with over 81% of travellers abandoning their online bookings due to poor user experience, your choice of Booking Engine is becoming increasingly crucial. It’s no secret that integrated options are becoming the crowd favourite for hospitality businesses across the globe, but why is it that they are so superior to their third-party counterparts? The answer is simple.

Cohesiveness and Convenience Integrated Booking Engines offer the ability to place a reservation directly from a provider’s domain name, e.g. yourresort.com.au, without the need to navigate to a

separate page. This functionality serves as the facilitator for numerous advantages that improve the user experience and ultimately result in increased profits.

Firstly, Integrated Booking Engines help to promote consumer trust by maintaining fluid branding throughout the booking process.

Buyer confidence automatically shrinks when directed to an unfamiliar URL to complete a payment, so a fully-branded Booking Engine that exists as part of your own website will help deliver faster, more functional buying experiences within a URL that your customers recognise.

Integrated Booking Engines also perform better on mobile devices than third-party alternatives because they don’t require notoriously glitchy iframes. With more people than ever using their phones to make travel bookings,

a responsive design is essential.

Studies show that 86% of travellers are disappointed by their mobile booking experiences with Online Travel Agents, meaning that user-friendly Integrated Booking Engines also present an attractive competitive opportunity.

Leading the pack for integrated options is NewBook Online.

NewBook Online offers a library of innovative features including dynamic rates, payment plans, a dedicated guest portal, customised branding, room/ site selection, abandoned cart tracking, and most importantly, NewBook’s unique No Dead Ends policy.

This policy allows guests to split a booking between room/site types (handy for families booking adjoining accommodation), choose different dates when their preferences aren’t available, view an availability calendar, and place

group bookings online. These flexible booking options can help you appeal to more guests, minimise phone calls that result from Booking Engines that don’t do the job, and convert more direct reservations.

How North Star Boosts Bookings and Revenue Using NewBook North Star Holiday Resort has taken their online bookings to a new level with the help of NewBook’s Integrated Booking Engine. Within their first year of joining, the resort was able to convert 51% more online reservations, and they haven’t slowed since. NewBook’s Dynamic Rates feature alone has increased their profits by over 28% in five years, and by using the AddOns feature, their on-site buffet breakfast now accounts for an additional $50,000 annually!

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

25

Technology cleans up

as hotels go hi-tech Image courtesy of Capital Equipment Hire Pty Ltd

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Forget mops and elbow grease and the traditional spray and wipe…

Hotel and resort cleaning has moved with the times and is embracing new technology as quickly as it arrives.

Even before the tentacles of COVID-19 reached into every corner and crevice of the world, hotels had begun waging a ‘smart’ war to ensure the highest standards of cleanliness.

One of the frontline weapons in the fight for hotel hygiene is the electrostatic spray gun; a large handheld device that shoots a spray of disinfectant onto almost everything that a hotel customer might touch.

The frequent blasts of disinfectant reassure guests that any germs are blown away.

The electrostatic application causes droplets of both the disinfectant and antimicrobial cleaner to produce a fine mist that wraps around all surfaces and coats it in a way that human

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hands simply cannot touch.

The droplets are said to cling to a surface with a force that is 75 times stronger than the pull of the Earth's gravity.

The electrostatic sprayers overcome any of the issues associated with the traditional spray and wipe method; namely time, overuse of the chemical and possible cross-contamination.

And no matter what angle cleaners disinfect a surface from, the disinfectant clings to the entire surface and does not need wiping off.

The Electrostatic sprayers take about 70 percent less time than conventional spray and wipe and uses 65 percent less chemical.

A number of hotels also use ultraviolet light for the sanitisation of smartphones and tablets shared by hotel employees. It has been used for decades as a powerful, rapid and chemicalfree disinfection method.

The UV light emitted deactivates the DNA of viruses, bacteria, and fungi, destroying their ability to multiply and cause disease.

Rochak Karki, the executive housekeeper of Sydney’s InterContinental Hotel, says his team uses electrostatic sprayers in their 509 guest rooms to do deep cleaning, “providing at extra sense of safety for our guests”.

“We are very thorough with the cleaning of all high-touchpoint areas, light switches, remote controls, all the chrome fittings, fan switches, door handles, bedside tables, kettles and hair dryers,” Mr Karki said.

“The electrostatic sprayers have become essential pieces of equipment for hotel cleaning. We also use them for deep cleaning five to six times a day in public areas, including lift buttons, chairs in cafes and the front desk.”

Mr Karki said his staff go through “an extensive check list for rooms and all public areas, lifts, lobbies, stairwells etc,” based on the InterContinental Hotels Group’s 5-S Ways of Clean.

“All the chemicals we use are TGA approved and made for the COVID cleaning purpose,” he said.

HOUSEKEEPING

His staff use commercial scrubbers and buffers for the hotel’s marble floors.

“High speed commercial scrubbers are the only way to go in a large hotel,” Mr Karki said. “We use battery-operated scrubbers, so chords do not become tangled - that is safer for everyone - and we use a gas-powered, very high-speed buffer which is very effective.

“Using the scrubber and buffer are by far the most efficient and effective ways to keep the marble floors clean and polished. To sanitize them we use disinfectant in our scrubber.”

Mr Karki said his cleaners used white pads in the scrubber on marble surfaces because it was favourable to the stone tiles but used brown and black pads in pool areas which had granite surrounds.

The hotel’s vacuum cleaners used in rooms operated off mains power. Colour-coded microfibre cloths were used in different areas of the hotel and were always single use. www.accomnews.com.au

“At the end of the day they are all collected by the room attendants and brought down for washing and they are disinfected for the next day,” he said.

Technology continues to bring about change in the accommodation sector.

Some hotels are also looking at nano technology to create a stay clean film on objects it is applied to. Whether that is to keep mirrors shiny, shower screens grime free or sinks and toilets squeaky clean; the nano technology film reduces routine cleaning times and eliminates the need for expensive cleaning agents to tackle tough stains.

Robots have also been pitched to hotels as a novelty to welcome guests as they arrive.

But the best use of robots is to help clean the miles of floors in a hotel. Robot vacuum cleaners are available for commercial use and can be left to finish up a room by housekeepers when they move on to the next room.

They can also clean public spaces.

Robot vacuum cleaners save housekeepers time and are programmed to be diligent.

They will clean under the bed every time and brush up the carpet whether it is dirty or not.

Industry perspectives on cleaning floors with scrubbers and polishers…

Damon Couper, Capital Equipment Hire, says: “Cleaning equipment is necessary to maintain a high standard of cleanliness, hygiene and the professional image required for guest-based venues,

especially in today’s climate.

“Like all capital equipment purchases it is important to understand the current technology on offer, the suitability to your application and requirement. Prior to purchasing, always consider the size of the area and time allocated to clean. Type of floor surface, different surfaces require different cleaning methods, i.e., correct choice of brush/pad to gain the best performance. Also consider the type of common stains to ensure the most suitable cleaning agent is used.

“The correct machine configuration is needed for simple, effective cleaning and to gain the most from your scrubber dryer. It is vital to partner with a supplier that can provide the latest technology along with a focus on providing responsive after sales support that can be relied on throughout the machine’s lifecycle.”

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What are the latest innovations in brush technology?

“Most machines available today have a large selection of pads and brush types.

These optional brushes/pads provide different cleaning performance and are suited for various floor types. Orbital technology has been recently introduced on some models, an oscillation action, which provides excellent cleaning.”

Redefine clean

What about power?

“Over the past couple of years, most manufacturers are offering machines powered

by Lithium-ion batteries. The benefits offered are the size and light weight of the battery power pack and the ability to recharge in a reduced time with extended life expectancy.

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HOUSEKEEPING

AccomNews - Summer 2021

27

scrubbing floors for maximum cleaning performance and maintaining an optimal average speed when operating polishers or scrubber dryers to gain uniformed cleaning results.

Image courtesy of Capital Equipment Hire Pty Ltd

"The introduction of Lithium-ion batteries allows manufacturers to design and manufacture more compact scrubber dryer solutions, delivering the benefit of more manoeuvrable cleaning solutions and introduce micro scrubber dryers for areas such as restrooms and hard to reach areas without the need of a power cord.

and/or large external common areas are available in battery, LPG or diesel power sources.

Models are now available in a hybrid configuration to reduce emissions and fuel consumption.”

“In some instances, fast chargers allow for reduced machine down-time and more productivity. Housekeepers can even purchase two sets of batteries so one is always charging while the other is operating, achieving a far more efficient cleaning process.

Damon’s tips:

“Cleaning machines designed for large areas such as carpark

“Housekeepers should consider the benefits of double-

The Power of

To Make Your Venue Shine

1300

“My top tip is to investigate the advantages of hiring polishers and floor scrubbers rather than outright purchasing, to avoid the large capital investment. Renting modern cleaning equipment has many benefits, low weekly costs, often inclusive of maintenance and access to an extensive range. The added benefits of partnering with specialist cleaning machine companies, the ability to increase the amount and/or type of equipment required for those peak periods or upgrading when your cleaning requirements or application change.”

Future tech options?

“Optional dosing systems ensure the correct amount of cleaning agent is used in your scrubber dryer, these have become a popular feature to save costs and cleaning resources.

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

HOUSEKEEPING

www.accomnews.com.au

“We are also seeing new developments in robotic cleaning technology. It is a new innovation in the cleaning industry but one that will no doubt become a major influence in the coming years.”

Daniel Pisaniello from Godfreys says: “The purchase of commercial floor cleaning equipment should be viewed as an investment rather than an expense. To optimise return on investment, the question to ask yourself is, ‘which is the right machine for the job?’.

“The equipment best suited to your unique floor cleaning requirements always achieves the highest return on investment and is therefore a more prudent investment, even when factoring a greater asset price.”

What are the benefits of each style of polisher?

“The two main types of floor polishers are swing polishers and straight-line polishers. The traditional swing polisher will polish most types of soft floor

finishes and can also be utilised for polishing and soft grinding different floor types such as ceramic, travertine, terrazzo and polished concrete when utilising diamond floor pads.

pass. Dual random orbital action quickly and efficiently attacks dirt from multiple directions.

Orbital cleaning machines fixed pad drivers allow the entire pad surface to clean your floor.

“For high-speed polishing there is the straight-line electric and battery-operated units.

These units are suitable for larger areas and for floors that require a high-speed polisher that generates an increase in the amount of heat and friction on the floor finish, providing a greater gloss rate to the floor. This will also assist with the proper cure time needed for high-speed floor polish. Keep in mind using the right floor pads will maximise performance and end results.”

“Floor care cleaning, stripping, and finishing are synonymous with time-consuming, laborintensive and costly work.

What are the latest innovations in brush technology?

“Brush technology has evolved over the past decade moving towards orbital technology especially for deep cleaning.

One of the obvious benefits is that it makes edge and detail work much easier and faster, floors are cleaner in a single

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“Oscillating floor machines oscillate the typically rectangular-shaped pad driver in small quarter-inch circles between 2,250 and 3,500 revolutions per minute. The quicker revolutions allow staff to clean more deeply and quickly when scrubbing floors.”

Daniel’s tips: “Always remember, with cleaning, 95 percent of the cost is labour. Therefore, the question is often not whether to buy a cleaning machine, but what size best suits your needs and achieves the highest return on investment.

“Ensure floors are vacuumed and swept before you scrub and/or polish the floor surface.

Scrubbing or polishing a

Polivac PV25 Suction Floor Polisher

dirty floor can create an increase of soil within the floors pores and lessen the lifespan and appearance of any hard floor polish.”

Future tech options?

“Management systems are now available to enable those who manage a fleet of machines across different sites to monitor everything that happens to the machines. The data is collected, transmitted, and converted into information that is used to improve coordination, optimise performance and increase fleet efficiency, while maintaining benefits over time.

“This service provides a complete and up-to-date overview of the status of each machine, which can be viewed online, any time, on any Smart device.

This system helps to optimise machine use, increase productivity by avoiding wasted time and preventing unforeseen events from occurring whenever possible.”

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To learn more please contact our Godfreys team today Call (03) 8542 2182 or email corporate@godfreys.com.au www.accomnews.com.au

HOUSEKEEPING

AccomNews - Summer 2021

29

From Nepal

to a peak performer in the hotel industry Rochak Karki – Images courtesy of InterContinental Sydney

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

As a young man, Rochak Karki was immersed in learning accounting and finance at a Nepalese university in the shadow of the mighty Himalayas.

He never imagined the heights that pursuing his studies could take him – even if the trek to the top of the InterContinental Sydney as one of the few male Executive Housekeepers in Australia came about after a series of detours.

Mr Karki presides over 509 rooms at one of Australia’s leading hotels, 30 storeys of grandeur perched above the magnificence of Sydney Harbour.

He has not yet reached any great heights in the soaring mountains of his homeland, but he is at the top of his game in Australia.

He has not yet reached any great heights in the soaring mountains of his homeland, but he is at the top of his game in Australia.

restaurant functions. From there he became housekeeping supervisor and manager at Sydney’s Quest Apartments and then became an executive housekeeper at AHS Hospitality, Australia and New Zealand's leading outsourced housekeeping partner. He then had management roles at Global Hospitality Solutions and Sydney’s Hyatt

Regency before taking on the executive housekeeper role at the InterContinental in October 2019.

It is a prestigious but demanding role, and he says housekeeping is the calling card for any hotel.

For a luxury brand there must be a fastidious attention to detail.

“The InterContinental provides exclusive service,” he says.

“We have a very high standard of guest satisfaction and very high care to the guest. “We like to know the needs of people before they even ask and that’s why I’m very proud to represent the Intercontinental brand.

“I guess the most important parts of the role are team management, planning and training.

“Housekeepers are at the front line for guest satisfaction.

“It’s what is most important to people, so each room has to be of the highest standard – it’s the calling card for the hotel and the thing that people remember.”

Mr Karki’s working day begins usually at around 7am, checking on housekeeping requirements and undertaking a property walk as a first check on maintenance.

At the morning briefings he draws up a work schedule for the day, and addresses guest feedback.

Mr Karki came to Sydney nine years ago as a 22-year-old post-graduate student wanting to add a Master of Commerce degree to the Bachelor of Business Administration he had received from Nepal’s Pokhara University on the gateway to the greatest peaks in the world.

While studying in Sydney for the degree – majoring in accounting and finance – from Ballarat’s Federation University, Mr Karki entered the hospitality trade as a food and beverage attendant for the Dockside Group, at Darling Harbour, working at various

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HOUSEKEEPING

www.accomnews.com.au

There is a daily department head meeting at 8.30 am and then the man with a master’s degree in commerce gets down to business.

He says the role is very much about leadership, setting an example of attention to detail and inspiring his staff to achieve the standards set by head office and encouraging them to be passionate about an important work.

Mr Karki says the reputation of the hotel is in the hands of the housekeeping staff and that the housekeeping work is vital every hour to the success and reputation of the hotel as a trusted luxury brand.

He says the ability to provide guests with a wonderful stay motivates him to achieve

www.accomnews.com.au

excellence in his work. “I came into the hospitality industry while working parttime as a student,” he says.

that company for one and a half years. “The InterContinental sets the highest standards for room comfort and guest satisfaction.”

“It was never really a career I contemplated growing up in Kathmandu because my whole background in studies was in business and finance.

Mr Karki says he is delighted to lead the way as one of the few male executive housekeepers in the industry.

“I developed a real taste for it.

“It’s a wonderful role and I think there will be more men in those positions in years to come because more and more men are coming into the hospitality industry – for someone who wants to build a career in the hotel business it is a very good department to be in because you learn about every aspect of guest satisfaction.”

“I worked in that catering job for eight months before starting in the hotel industry at Quest Apartments and I worked at

While many executive housekeepers have been able to turn their work into globe-trotting opportunities

“My first job in the industry was as a barman and wait attendant in a catering service but the nature of the job, the people I worked with, making guests happy and satisfied – it got me hooked on the hospitality industry right from the start.

HOUSEKEEPING

at different properties on different continents, Mr Karki is staying put for now.

“At the moment, I still have more to learn about the role and about the hotel business from different people and various industry leaders in the hotel market,” he says.

“The InterContinental is a beautiful hotel – a beautiful place to work and stay.”

Mr Karki spends an hour in the gym after work every day to keep fit for the next day’s tasks but stresses that what really gets his adrenalin pumping is the knowledge that when guests check out of the InterContinental they do so after having had a great stay.

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By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Humans spend a third of their lives in bed, and for hotel guests the quality of their sleep will define their hotel experience.

Accommodation providers must therefore be vigilant in defusing the mattress minefield.

A 10-year-old bed is likely to have clocked up 30,000 hours of sleep; that is a decade of detritus, sweat, saliva, dead skin, and other nocturnal nasties that can lure unwanted guests such as bed bugs.

Photo: Dakota Corbin on Unsplash

Putting the mattress

minefield to rest

Every day, humans shed half a billion skin cells and, over time, many settle into the cracks and crevices of mattresses. Dead skin provides a feast for dust mites.

According to respiratory expert Professor John Blakey from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Western Australia, “If you didn’t wash your bedding for a year it would be more than a kilo heavier just because of dead skin.”

Spider-like dust mites thrive on skin cells, particularly on pillows because they love the humid environment.

Mites can trigger asthma attacks and an allergy that produces all-year-round hay fever-type symptoms.

Then there is the threat of guests breathing in toxic fumes while they slumber. Body heat may help release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from your mattress. These come mainly from petroleum-based polyurethane and chemicals like formaldehyde and flame retardants used in some cheaper mattresses.

The average adult sweats 26 gallons a year in bed.

That makes the mattress potentially a warm, moist home for fungus and bacteria.

Buying mattresses made from natural products will enhance the sleeping experience for guests as they provide antimicrobial properties and easy maintenance over time.

As mattress maintenance techniques require their movement, a strong construction guarantees less damage.

Photo: Bruce Mars on Unsplash

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Natural ventilation of the mattress through the base is essential.

HOUSEKEEPING

Given that a hotel mattress will be used by dozens of different people throughout a year, it must be protected, both from wear and tear and potential accidents such as food stains.

Tips for mattress protection: •

Ventilate the mattress outdoors.

•

‘Side turn’ the mattress for keeping its shape.

•

Clean it with a vacuum.

•

Avoid ‘wet cleaning methods’ as detergents, water, and even steam can be destructive for the mattress.

Waterproof and washable mattress protectors safeguard against stains, dirt, mites, and even bedbugs.

Professor Blakey recommends frequently vacuuming the mattress and daily room service is one of the most essential factors in maintaining them.

Emphasis should be placed on the best possible ventilation of the mattress, leaving the door open for as long as possible, so that it can be refreshed. It is also important to ensure that there is no moisture either in the bed area or in the room in general, as it is one of the most aggravating factors for the mattress.

When there is a generic moisture problem, the use of specialized dehumidifiers is recommended.

Mattress rejuvenation should be performed on a case-bycase basis, but manufacturers recommend that in hotels, the rejuvenation process should be repeated at least three times a year since mattresses are used by many people.

The mattress should be thoroughly vacuumed, and an enzymebased pet odour remover may clean up many bodily fluids.

A box of baking soda sprinkled over the mattress also helps, especially if the property can spare the bed and lets the powder absorb odours for 24 hours before vacuuming. The mattress should be placed near a window so that sunlight can help disinfect it. www.accomnews.com.au

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Is your air-con out of control?

Images courtesy of Mitsubishi Electric Australia, Image: Greg Harper

By Mandy Clarke, Editor

How do you know that your guest room airconditioning controller is outdated?

You will know because it is costing you in several ways…

First, you are out of pocket with high utility bills, out of hand unit maintenance costs, and erratic guest room temperatures are turning your guests away.

Heat and humidity are the price we all pay for living in our wonderful Australian climate, but hot and humid guest rooms are not. If guests arrive to a guest room that is like an oven, they will immediately reach for the air conditioning controller and turn the temperature down to the lowest setting possible… and leave it there.

Then they will go out for dinner and happily leave it running on low in an empty room. They would never dream of doing this at home.

Accom providers with older air conditioning units and out of date controllers suffer most from guest misuse and abuse.

They are reminded to find a solution every time they are

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

faced with huge utility bills.

Fortunately, there are costeffective solutions on offer. First consult an industry provider and conduct an audit of your current system to consider what solution might be the best fit for your property and guests. Solutions may include installing an updated, fixed mounted controller that restricts the operating range of temperatures and cannot be misplaced by guests like handheld remote controls. Notably though, replacing your handheld remotes could be the simplest solution!

total energy management system revamp. This is a smart option and very efficient at controlling the temperature across your whole property with sensors that can detect guest movement and calculate the ideal temperature of a room in various weather events.

Check in: Industry expert viewpoint

The ideal and most comfortable temperature for most people should be set somewhere between 21-24°C. Bear in mind if the pre-set temperature for a room is a comfortable 23°Cs and a guest lowers it to 18 they have increased that utility cost by up to 50 percent!

Q. What should property managers consider when upgrading their air conditioning control systems?

The priority here is to find a balance between being able to set reasonable limits on energy consumption and room temperature while enhancing guest experience.

Of course, you may also consider a ENERGY & RESOURCES

AccomNews interviews Atesh Mani, national product manager at Mitsubishi Electric Australia to find out about all things air conditioning control.

A. When upgrading air conditioning control systems in hotel guest rooms, property managers need to balance the comfort of their guests with energy consumption. The minimum functions most guests require can be serviced with a fixed wall mounted controller.

For property managers, there are more options depending on the existing air conditioning system and compatibility with newer advanced controllers, such as central controllers.

Control system features to look for include energy efficiency scheduling, night setback, autoreturn, auto-off timer, built-in temperature sensor, occupancy sensor, room brightness sensor, customisable displays (including property branding), connection to centralised systems. www.accomnews.com.au

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» Remote controller can communicate with smartphone or tablet device via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Operation and Setting App are available on the App Store.

» Logo images can also be displayed on the initial screen for a more customised and user-friendly experience.

» Hotels can choose to only display the basic settings of ON/OFF, set temp., fan speed etc.

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Q. What are the beneďŹ ts of installing ďŹ xed control systems in guest rooms?

A. Fixed wall mounted controllers have many benefits for both guests and property managers. Unlike handheld remote controllers, wall mounted controllers do not get misplaced. The wall controller can be easily cleaned as part of hygiene procedures.

Simplified controllers can be selected for guests so they can have some control over their personal comfort.

Advanced features can be locked out by the property manager on some controllers.

Property managers using centralised controllers can limit set temperature ranges available to rooms.

Fixed wall mounted controllers have many benefits for both guests and property managers.

Unlike handheld remote controllers, wall mounted controllers do not get misplaced.

energy consumption. The

Q. Tell us about energy saving remote options that are available?

at various times throughout the day. Alternatively, it is possible to control temperature ranges during the day or night. Every single degree of temperature change impacts on energy consumption.

A. To save energy, property managers can make use of scheduling. This allows the system to be turned on and off

Wall controllers with occupancy detection can be configured to manage operation, or limit temperature range to reduce

Q. What are the options for

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

ability to link key card activation or sensors with the control options will allow for significant energy saving operation. integrating air-conditioning controls with room keys and sensors?

ENERGY & RESOURCES

A. Existing air conditioning systems could potentially be fitted with room key control.

Speak to your air conditioning dealer or controls specialist to find out if your system can be retrofitted with key control.

Some air conditioning brands have optional parts available to connect to key card systems.

Q. Any future trends you can tell us about?

A. To provide a premium service, a Bluetooth connection with a simple description left in the room will allow guests to download an app and connect to in-room controllers. Guests then have the convenience of controlling their air conditioner from their phone.

Wifi control is also an option for management. This will allow the property manager to use a phone or tablet to turn units on/off without having to be in a specific office or the room itself. This could be used to switch units off in a vacant room or to switch units on for rooms that will have guests arriving, so they are comfortable as soon as they walk in.

www.accomnews.com.au

How to prepare for a

weather disaster Australia is a sunburnt country, a land of drought and flooding rains.

Bushfires, cyclones, king tides and even avalanches are also some of the natural hazards that regularly befall the nation.

Accommodation providers are constantly warned that when it comes to natural disasters in Australia, it is not a matter of if but when.

Preparation is key for property owners to ensure the safety of their guests and buildings.

Since 2011, Queensland has been hit by more than 70 significant natural disasters and a La Nina event means this summer North Queenslanders must be prepared for an earlier cyclone season with the potential for

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more storms to cross the coast.

In 2017, Cyclone Debbie handed Whitsundays tourism a $180 million damages bill.

Emergency services had to evacuate thousands of holidaymakers stranded on resort islands hit by wind gusts stronger than 260 km/h.

safe or putting yourself and those you love in danger”.

“You only need to look at 2020,” Mr Rawnsley said, “we started out the year on fire and we ended the year with flood warnings. That's Australia.

Queensland and Fraser Island.”

Mr Rawnsley said hotel managers should do a risk assessment on their property, “an analysis of everything including making sure they have appropriate insurances, especially business interruption insurance”.

Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach were littered with snapped trees, roof tiles and furniture, with wrecked yachts washed ashore.

“It's incumbent upon all of us wherever we are in Australia to prepare for storm season and that storm could be in the form of a cyclone or seasonal rains or bushfire.

Last year, even before COVID devastated the Australian hotel industry, accommodation providers were rocked by a business turndown sparked by bushfires along eastern Australia.

“There is plenty of information from good government agencies who can help tourist accommodation providers prepare for the things that will inevitably happen in Australia.

“There is a very real possibility that operators who have taken our business interruption insurance will even be able to claim their losses against the pandemic.

According to Trevor Rawnsley, CEO of the Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association, being prepared for disasters “could be the difference between staying

“In North Queensland you have to prepare for cyclones, and we are now finding that bushfires are occurring in places where they haven't previously been a threat such as Southeast

“People just need to take an hour to scroll through the government websites to have a look at their property, make a plan, talk to their staff about it and be prepared.”

SAFETY & SECURITY

“If there's a cyclone and it wipes out a whole bunch of units, without that business interruption insurance you are more at risk,” he said.

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37

Photo by Fábio Hanashiro on Unsplash

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Get Ready Queensland is one such government website helping people prepare for natural disasters in all situations.

Step one: whether you are facing cyclone, flood, fire, or heavy snowfalls, have a Get Ready plan.

“An emergency and evacuation plan will ensure everyone in your household knows exactly what to do if the worst happens,” the website declares.

It could save the lives of you and your guests.

Step two: pack an emergency kit.

days, toiletries for three days, sunscreen and insect repellent, can openers, phone and portable charger, hand sanitiser and face masks for each guest.

suggests checking roofs for any damaged or missing tiles and repair or cover gaps in your external walls to help reduce the chance of embers getting in.

Step three: make sure you are fully covered by insurance.

Cutting back trees or shrubs near buildings and keeping your lawn well-maintained can help minimise the spread of fire.

Storm preparedness includes checking that walls, roof and eaves are secure, treetops and branches are clear of the property, loose material and furniture that could cause injury in high winds has been stored, and that fuel tanks are full.

If verandas or decks have mats, outdoor furniture, wood piles or even flammable liquids such as petrol or chemicals, move them out of the way to reduce the chance of them catching alight.

Property owners are urged to prepare for bushfire season by clearing out gutters because embers and sparks can quickly set leaves alight.

Consider replacing timber fences with metal that can better withstand the extreme heat of a fire and attaching fine metal mesh screens on the outside of windows and doors.

The NSW Rural Fire Service

It is important to make sure

Damage to an electric system is also a major fire hazard.

Prevent electrical problems by inspecting the outside of your property, specifically looking for damaged or frayed wires vulnerable to harm from snow and ice. Check for any bird nests near electrical fixtures, as these nests should also be removed before they cause a fire.

Ice accumulates on tree limbs and if the ice builds up too much, it can bring even sturdy branches crashing to the ground or through roofs.

Large accumulations of heavy, wet snow can put tremendous pressure on roofs. It is a good idea for managers to familiarize themselves with professional rooftop snow-clearing services.

It is also important to keep walking paths clear of snow and ice for the safety of others.

©Roger - stock.adobe.com

Include first aid supplies, 10 litres of drinking water per person at a minimum, nonperishable food for three days, important documents stored on a USB, sturdy work gloves for removing rubbish and debris, enough tissues for each guest, enough wipes for each guest, battery-operated radio, torches, spare batteries to last three

The difference between staying safe or putting yourself and those you love in danger

you follow any local alerts and evacuation warnings. Property managers are advised that while electrical problems can pop up any time of the year, they are especially crucial in alpine locations during winter because you need the heat.

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SAFETY & SECURITY

www.accomnews.com.au

Delivering Smart Hospitality with Mobile Keys checkout and billing. The guest spends more time on their business or holiday and less on hotel process.

Success in the hospitality sector essentially boils down to two factors: delivering an outstanding customer experience and running a highly efficient operation.

Technology aids both sides of this equation, and a growing focus is the use of mobile keys. A mobile key simply means that the guest’s phone, via a smartphone app, is used to unlock their door or gain access to hotel facilities.

Mobile keys can significantly enhance the guest experience by offering: •

•

•

•

Remote online checkin - the guest’s key is sent to them, via the app, in advance of their arrival.

There’s no need to check-in at reception - they simply go straight to their room.

Reduced congestion at reception - for guests who do need the services of reception staff, there’s no long queue of people waiting to check in, so they get faster, more efficient service.

Fully automated process - a mobile key system can be connected with the hotel’s Property Management System (PMS), offering the guest a fully automated process, from booking, to automated check-in/

Access all areas - the mobile key isn’t limited to the guest’s room, but can be programmed to give them access to the car park, elevators, night door, meeting rooms and sports/spa facilities.

•

Ease of use - guests always have their phone with them, and they’re much less likely to lose or forget their mobile device than a key.

•

Mobile keys improve operational efficiency too

- wireless access control provider SALTO has helped many accommodation operators world-wide to use them to improve their security, productivity and hygiene levels.

Guest’s phones are less likely to be lost or shared than a key, so mobile keys significantly reduce the chance of unauthorised access. With fewer guests checking in at reception, operators can lower staffing levels, or free up staff to focus on higher value customer interactions. Eliminating keys changing hands enhances biosecurity and contributes to staff and guest safety.

For more information please contact SALTO Systems on +61 (0)3 8683 9782 or email hospitality.au@saltosystems.com.

You can also visit www.saltohospitality.com

ACCESS CONTROL DESIGNED FOR HOTELS SALTO’s access control technology platforms for hotels deliver a seamless guest experience and enhance staff accessibility with unprecedented flexibility and security.

Our premium electronic lock solutions – which include sleek designs to match any hotel décor – cover every access point from back-of-house organization to guest room management, with one easy-to-use system for hotels of all types and sizes.

With over 10,000 hotel projects worldwide, you can be confident that SALTO has a proven solution to suit your hospitality environment.

Guest experience: convenient & contactless smartphone keys Hotel management: control who goes when and where Security: 24/7 access control covering your entire property

Please contact us on +61 (0)3 8683 9782 or email hospitality.au@saltosystems.com

Integration: compatible with PMS, GRMS and Guest Apps

www.saltohospitality.com

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SAFETY & SECURITY

AccomNews - Summer 2021

39

Never underestimate

©spainter_vfx - stock.adobe.com

the value of your data

We live in a competitive world.

bookings, some of which may have been at your property.

parameters of use, and make sure it remains your property.

Advertising is powerful, but data is ‘gold’ in providing opportunities to market and sell our business direct to our target audience.

Accommodation properties can amass a huge database of guests themselves, and this is ideal when looking to target future business. With the value of data a given, clearly your best option is to hold and own your own database.

Secondly, be aware that privacy laws regulate data usage strictly.

The onus is on you to get the correct permissions to share data with other companies.

If you do use a marketing database provided by a third party, you run the risk of them misusing it, but retain the liability for this misuse yourself.

If nothing else, 2020 has taught us not to take anything for granted, and to seize every opportunity we can to make the most of the business we can secure.

The travel industry has clearly been hit hard with restrictions, limiting both international and domestic travel. As domestic opportunities now begin to open up, your data provides a qualified target to market your business.

The value of data is not underestimated by the power players.

Take for example the current advertising campaign being driven by Flight Centre in conjunction with Australian

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Sylvia Johnston Senior Executive, HiRUM Software Solutions

Tourism. You may have already seen their ‘wake up’ advertising campaign that specifically pairs Australian travellers and Australian destinations.

In addition to the media campaign, they are also directly targeting their extensive customer database to pitch local.

As an online agent, this database is made up of hundreds of thousands of

There is a tendency for providers to capture data on your behalf, and hence have control over its future use. Be cautious of this.

For starters, no-one would willingly hand over gold.

Do not give ownership of your valuable data to anyone. Do not allow them to collect it on a shared marketing database, such as a shared Mailchimp account, where you do not know how it is used. If your marketing company needs access to your Mailchimp account, you can provide it, of course. Set the right

MARKETING

Holding your data in your own PMS is of course a huge benefit, safely under ‘lock and key’, on the proviso that your PMS has the capability to run its own marketing campaigns.

Remember that multiple years of booking data and guest contacts is a very valuable resource for your business. It provides you with a qualified target audience for future campaigns.

Do not do anything that will cause you to lose it, and most importantly, don’t give it away! www.accomnews.com.au

How automation will drive hotels revenue recovery…

The hotel industry continues to face significant challenges following COVID lockdowns and travel restrictions.

The new reality of lower occupancy and negligible corporate and international demand for the foreseeable future will stretch hotel owners and managers. To survive in this disrupted market, many properties and groups are running lean, with smaller operational and management teams.

Tracy Dong Senior Advisor, APAC for IDeaS Revenue Solutions

like marketing, sales and revenue management into combined commercial management roles; and even for those hotel groups that opt to keep singular revenue management specialists, more is expected of them.

Consolidation is going to be a focus for the hotel sector in the near term, involving both distressed property sales and traditional hotel operational roles themselves. With a focus on ‘doing more with less’ many hotels are combining traditional stand-alone management roles

The need for automation In the past, manual-based

It’s your time to shine. Light up your commercial strategy, and work smarter—not harder— with automated, data-driven decisions you can count on.

Subscribe to the future. Get started today.

Discover greater profitability at ideas.com. apac@ideas.com

42

©2021 Integrated Decisions & Systems, Inc. (IDeaS - A SAS COMPANY) All Rights Reserved. TJAD0082-00-AP-ID 01/2021

AccomNews - Summer 2021

revenue management approaches have looked at a hotel’s booking history and current activity levels to forecast demand. During periods of high demand, revenue managers would increase rates. When demand is low, they would discount them, thereby generating best-case revenue under both scenarios. However, through the COVID-19 period and beyond, forecasting, inventory controls and pricing decisions will rarely be this simple. The reality is that, today, amid massive market uncertainty and a heavy reliance on online travel agents and flash sales, it is almost impossible to look at a hotel’s booking history and identify trends because the booking patterns are fluctuating constantly, driven by rapid changes in consumer behaviours.

In a high-speed environment, manually collecting, evaluating, and calculating data via spreadsheets is not only a tedious process, but also slow and highly susceptible to mistakes and missed opportunities. This is where an advanced revenue management system (RMS) makes a huge difference to both the top and bottom line.

An advanced RMS not only generates prices that adapt to market changes, but it also considers the competitive landscape and a guest’s willingness to pay. An RMS scientifically monitors competitor hotels’ pricing for an equivalent room type and its impact on your hotel’s pricing to gauge how aggressively (or otherwise) to react when a competitor changes pricing.

In a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers tend to overact with drastic price drops to compete on the remaining demand that does exist.

Department collaboration, technology alignment The push toward consolidation of hotel management roles and a renewed focus on collaboration MARKETING

through the COVID-19 period can have positive impacts (beyond cost control) for a hotel.

Using data from a range of hotel departments, hoteliers can shift prices in a variety of hotel areas to optimise revenue streams. For example, lowering room prices on a given weekend may boost spa and restaurant reservations.

While each stream is adjusted individually, they all affect the overall revenue and profit performance. And, through using integrated technologies across revenue-generating departments, hoteliers can ensure product, price, and availability are matched to demand and client expectations, maximising guest experiences and profits.

More responsibility, more challenges Even before the impact of COVID-19, the revenue and distribution environment had become incredibly complex.

Distribution channels had grown rapidly, as had the number of data points to analyse in order to make the correct distribution and pricing decisions.

Collating this information into a single vision of the truth is a time-consuming and laborious process and leaves sparse time to think strategically and make effective decisions that drive revenue and profitability in the long term.

Hotel managers, and revenue managers specifically, are under enormous pressure to ensure the rates put out by their hotels reflect real-time market trends. A machinelearning revenue solution that can implement tactical decisions and automatically distribute rates and inventory controls to the entire distribution environment is critical in a rapidly changing market.

These solutions allow revenue managers to focus on critical short-term hotel pricing issues that may arise and better execute a hotel’s longterm revenue strategy. www.accomnews.com.au

Wifi systems under load - has yours coped?

I think we can all agree that it has been a cr*p year and particularly so for accommodation providers.

Do not advertise that you have fast wifi unless you do

COVID has not done many favours, unless you were in the mask or hand sanitiser business.

However, it has brought to our attention just how important many things are; providing fast, strong, reliable wifi has proven to be very high on the importance list.

With more people working from home, home schooling, keeping in contact via live streams with friends, family, and colleagues, wifi is more important than ever. People can work from anywhere if they have fast, strong, reliable wifi.

The feedback I have been getting from my clients is that when the borders were closed, they saw more weekend occupancy and shorter stays during the week.

They are keen to get longer stays as they are more lucrative.

If people can work from anywhere, can you entice guests to come and stay and bring the family on a working holiday to get longer bookings? Do you have wifi that will provide everything they need?

Can you entice guests to stay outside the school holiday period by home schooling their children at your site? Do you have reliable wifi that will not buffer or drop out during tutorials?

Unreliable wifi can be extraordinarily frustrating to guests and will gain you bad reviews very quickly. Is it time to do an audit of your wifi system to know if yours is coping?

Here are some key areas to look at…

Your internet connection or connections need to be fast and able to cope during busy periods such as school holidays when usage peaks particularly between 5pm to 9pm. Not to mention rainy days when usage www.accomnews.com.au

Judy Senn Director, Time Out Internet

is at a peak throughout the day.

Netflix can be a great distraction for kids trapped inside while on holidays. The chances of three Netflix streams occurring in one unit at the same time are very high these days! You need to deliver speed to your guests.

Unlimited data is mandatory – no ifs and buts unless you are in an area with limited data availability such as a satellite connection.

No one likes wifi that buffers, and a guest should never run out of data.

You may need multiple NBN connections to get the speed you require, particularly if you do not have fibre available in your area. If you have access to a fibre connection or you can afford a fibre connection (they are not cheap, but they are fast!) you will have a Ferrari engine to drive your guest wifi.

Guest wifi backbone and management system Your guest wifi backbone must have the functionality to utilise multiple NBN connections with the ability of adding more as the demand for bandwidth increases. Demand for more and more speed is growing quickly.

The backbone must also have a management system with the ability to throttle the bandwidth speeds to units as you still need to share around the bandwidth you get. The faster connection or more connections you have

the faster speeds you can provide your guests. Ensure your backbone is scalable.

or connections – you may need multiple NBN connections or a fibre connection depending on your complexes size and you need to offer unlimited data to your guests.

Signal strength/ coverage External wifi systems or hallway systems do not ‘cut the mustard’ these days. They do not provide the signal coverage or speed to your guests in their units. Adding repeaters or boosters into your units with these systems halves the bandwidth guests receive.

You need to have a modem/ router/access point in every unit (maybe multiple if it is a large unit). It will depend on what type of technology that can be used at your site as to the type of device(s) used. Guests want to be able to lie in bed and stream on the TV or on their device.

Easy connection of guest devices People want to go on holidays and have the ability to do what they do at home. They want to ‘live’ at your complex and bring as many devices as they like and connect them easily to your wifi. We have had units with 30 devices connected at the same time without a hitch.

Clunky login screens are a thing of the past. You need an easy-to-use system where the guest connects to their units secure network signal and they enter a password into their device once, for the whole stay!

In summary, some key points for your guest wifi system: •

You need a fast and reliable internet connection

TECHNOLOGY

•

You need to ensure that your guest wifi backbone is scalable and has a good management system.

•

You need an in-room guest wifi system – where every unit has its own wireless modem/router/ access point to connect to. Good strong signal.

•

You need a guest wifi system that allows for an ‘at home’ experience, whereby every unit has its own secure network. The guests logs in once with a device and you are on line – just as you would at home.

This allows for the easy and secure connectivity of all devices the guests bring. They do not have to go through a login screen.

Do not advertise that you have fast wifi unless you do.

Guests enticed to your site by fast wifi will soon post a scathing review if their wifi experience was anything but great. I read reviews every day and it is a common theme of late ‘the website said fast wifi, but we could barely stream for work, so we won’t be back’.

Give guests the wifi they need to be able to ‘live their lives’ at your complex and start reaping the rewards.

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Balconies and Balustrades:

Treat the high point of your property well

By Mandy Clarke, Editor

Do your guests delight in the relaxing view from your property’s balconies?

Do they worry about their safety, nit-pick at unsightly faults, outdated style, or ugly cosmetics?

If your guests are only disturbed by un-forecasted cloud or rain, then congratulations, you have done your job! However, no manager can ever fully relax in today’s culture where personal injury lawyers may be standing by to act on accusations from a disgruntled guest who claims a balcony related injury.

A slight graze from a rusty railing can cause you strife… but there is so much worse that can happen. One of our greatest collective fears is that a guest may be injured or suffer a serious accident onsite. A balcony fall is particularly tragic.

Every balcony has the potential to fail at any stage of its lifespan, particularly with age and you really do need to be aware because the financial repercussions can be crippling.

Australia’s accom managers need to be extra balcony aware because the climate can limit the balcony’s lifespan and old structures can also contain hazardous asbestos.

The secret is to get a building and concrete expert in to inspect your balconies and balustrades thoroughly.

Someone who will then issue a comprehensive report that spells out in detail exactly what needs to be done to ensure your balconies are safe and sound.

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

Image courtesy of O’Brien Glass

What can go wrong with a balcony?

Plenty. The most serious issue is one that must be rectified immediately. It centres on the structural steel itself and the render around the supporting posts or balustrading.

If there has been prolonged moisture ingress of the balcony surface, particularly around the posts, concrete spalling will inevitably take place and that will lead to deterioration of the substrate.

One problem quite often leads to another and corrosion could spread, potentially weakening the structural integrity of the entire slab.

Overloading by way of large terracotta pots, heavy statues, water features and ornaments can also cause problems.

Particularly if the balcony has not been purpose built to support them.

With many hotels and resorts constructed by or near the ocean, rust caused by saltwater corrosion can also play havoc with steel reinforcing as well as unprotected steel fixtures and fittings, including fixing plates, nuts, bolts, and screws (and remember, the latter can also loosen over time, thus jeopardising the structural integrity).

In seaside areas, small cracks in concrete may appear harmless, however bear in mind that if water can get in, it will quickly deteriorate.

•

Chunks of concrete fallen off.

•

Worn, corroded or unstable balustrades and handrails.

•

Wall cladding flush up against the balcony.

•

Rust stains underneath a balcony.

•

Handrails fixed through the top surface of the balcony.

•

Exposed steel reinforcing

•

Where the building meets the balcony or balustrading.

•

The tops of balustrades/ fixing at wall junctions.

Extend the life of a balcony by providing:

Potential problems to look out for:

•

Regular ‘falls’ across the surface to allow run off.

•

Water pooling on the balcony surface with no runoff.

•

Appropriate flashing and drainage – clean drains.

•

Leaning balconies.

•

Overflows to supplement

REFURBISHMENT

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drainage in case of heavy rain, blockages, etc.

•

Correct handrail fixings.

•

A durable surface membrane.

•

At least 100mm difference between the balcony surface and building interior.

•

At least 35mm clearance between balcony and the base of wall claddings.

If your balcony is regularly inspected and well-maintained, there is nothing to stop it lasting for many years.

Balconies are also important elements of your building’s architecture and can enhance or ruin a property’s aesthetics. Beautiful, well looked after balconies are an essential element of any great accommodation offering.

The use of crystal-clear, well fitted, safety glass in a balcony surround, at its best looks clean and modern. Glass can impress guests and provide uninterrupted views of beaches and outstanding locations.

Remember, you can update or re-furbish your balcony according

Photo by Greg Rivers on Unsplash

to your guests needs and your properties style, you can choose from a myriad of styles available from your industry supplier. There are no hard and fast rules about cosmetics but there are stringent rules about substance and safety therefore you must always abide by your state’s laws and regulations.

Queensland law, for instance, says

Maximise your view this summer

where a deck or balcony is one metre or higher above the ground, balustrades need to be at least one metre high. For decks more than one metre above the ground, openings in balustrades, including decorative balustrades, cannot be greater than 125 millimetres.

Balustrades must be constructed so they can resist forces or pressure that can reasonably

be expected to be placed upon them, including people leaning against them and strong winds.

Hopefully, you will find that your balconies only need some cosmetic renovations such as replacing handrails, glass or decking. Remember that easy and well-planned balcony and balustrade maintenance is the key.

More than just repairing broken windows O’Brien® offers a comprehensive range of glazing solutions and glass services for Property Managing Agents and Owners Corporations for both residential and commercial properties.

We’re here to help High quality: All our safety glass complies with current Australian Standards.

Workmanship guaranteed: Professional installation by expert and experienced glaziers, with workmanship guarantee on the glass installation.

Excellence in customer service: Our installation teams are efficient, approachable and knowledgeable.

As restrictions ease and Australians get used to congregating in larger numbers this summer, people will seek out new spots to eat and drink this holiday season.

Glass is unique in that it can provide a safety barrier at the same time allowing your patrons to enjoy open surroundings and maximum views.

National coverage: We’ve got you covered, serving areas covering 98% of the Australian population.

And what’s better than a nice spot in a great location with a view?

If you are seeking an effective and safer way to maximise the open-air setting at your hotel, restaurant or bar this summer, give O’Brien® a call.

Balcony areas with glass balustrades are popular in both commercial and domestic settings.

We specialise in fitting safety glass that offers the ambience with views to the horizon and beyond.

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Beth Pope QLD & NT Manager, Property Services - Glazing, Electrical & Plumbing

M: 0438 490 908 E: beth.pope@obrienglass.com.au O’Brien Glass Industries Limited QBCC Licence No. 54248; SA Licence No. BLD146850; NSW Contractor licence R62297

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

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Access all areas:

Research the key for disability travellers

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

One in five Australians live with a disability but the accommodation industry still has work to do in catering fully for such a huge market.

That is the opinion of Julie Jones, whose Have Wheelchair Will Travel blog has won fans around the world since she began writing about holidaying alongside son Braeden, who lives with cerebral palsy.

“Australian hotel operators have made great advances in meeting the needs of disabled people but one of the most important things that is still lacking is detailed information and photos on their websites regarding accessible accommodation,” Ms Jones said.

“This would be so helpful to people with disabilities to know whether a property can cater to their needs before they book their accommodation. It would help the hotels as well by not having people arrive at the front desk only to then tell the hotel manager that

Photo by Elevate on Unsplash

the accommodation is not suitable. “There is no one size fits all approach to disabilities because everyone is different.

“But by providing as much information as possible hotels are empowering their guests to make decisions for themselves whether the property will suit.’’

Disabilities come in a myriad

of forms, each presenting a different set of challenges.

“I had one of my readers contact me to say she had a daughter on the autism spectrum,” Ms Jones said. “She was desperate for a holiday, but her daughter had such specific sensory challenges including not being in a room that was a certain colour.

“So, accommodation providers need to understand that people aren't being difficult if they are asking really specific questions about a property. Communication is key to make it a good experience for both parties.

“I used to work in the travel industry, so I ask a lot of questions of hotel managers before we travel. P48

Recommendations from an industry professional: Jason Swaffield, HLS Healthcare Pty Ltd, on the increasing need for universal design everywhere, especially within the hospitality and tourism industries.

I recommend a track and cover system designed to make the bathroom environment flexible without compromising the aesthetics and the design.

This product range includes toilet arm supports, shower seats, ergonomic washbasin, washbasin brackets, grabrails, towel and other rails and even

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

accessory shelves. I recommend a system that consists of a wall mounted aluminium track and an aluminium cover to allow the hotel or the guest to adjust the bathroom to the specific needs of the guest within minutes.

This style of system means you can attach, move, adjust, and easily remove bathroom accessories. This system can be a colour or design matched to suit to décor, and so is the first solution worldwide that allows hotels to maintain the important feeling of

‘accommodation’ rather than ‘facility’, as the system blends into the walls or tiles.

When it comes to bedroom equipment to assist guests who use wheelchairs, I recommend a system designed to allow carers to lift transfer guests from wheelchair to bed and back again, or from wheelchair to shower or toilet. Tracking systems can be concealed into the ceiling with the hoist unit stowed away in a cupboard when not required. A detachable hoist can be removed and reinstalled

REFURBISHMENT

within minutes by a hotel staff member prior to guest arrival.

I would suggest using a rail system that can also be retrofitted as part of stylish slim wall-mounted system.

The ceiling hoist system offers safety and compliance to guests as well as the hotel and takes away all challenges of transfers to ensure a trouble-free stay.

For a hotel, the experience is just as important as the facilities, and this solution offers a welcome balance between the two.

www.accomnews.com.au

U N I V E R S A L D E S I G N S O L U T I O N S F O R H E A L T H C A R E A N D H O S P I TA L I T Y

THE TRACK OF THE FUTURE

DESIGNED TO MAKE THE BATHROOM ENVIRONMENT FLEXIBLE The Profilo Smart track systems is an aluminium profile upon which you can attach, move, adjust and easily remove bathroom accessories. This allows complete flexibility through the entire bathroom. Create custom spaces for individualised equipment use in minutes.

PROFILO SMART

TRACK AND COVER SYSTEM

Profilo Smart is an innovative flexible system created for people with reduced mobility and designed for the bathroom environment.

Unlimited colour palettes and beautiful accessories offer endless design possibilities for superior environments and customer care.

The unique flexible system combines superior functionality with elegant design, allowing the bathroom to adapt to people’s needs. It supports a wide range of accessories that can be easily moved or removed according to the arise of different needs, making the bathroom a completely versatile environment.

Profilo Smart’s product range includes arm supports, shower seats, ergonomic washbasin, washbasin brackets and a wide set of accessories designed to make the bathroom comfortable and beautiful.

Currently, there is an increasing need for universal design everywhere, especially within the hospitality, residential and healthcare markets.

ANODIZATION

MARBLE

MOSAIC

WOOD

RAL COLOURS

Our innovative track and cover system is designed to make the bathroom environment flexible without compromising the aesthetics and the design.

Our innovative flexible system consists of a wall mounted aluminium track and an aluminium cover.

FLEXIBLE. ADAPTABLE. CUSTOMISABLE. CEMENT

Profilo Smart also offers unlimited sublimation printing possibilities. Rail systems can complement or blend seamlessly into the bathroom décor. Support rails can virtually disappear into the design or colour of the wall making Profilo Smart the perfect balance between accessible equipment and design schemes.

For further information or to discuss the available options please contact the team at HLS Healthcare on 1300 931 893 HLS Healthcare is the exclusive Australian supplier of Profilo Smart.

Before - Image courtesy of HLS Healthcare Pty Ltd

P46 It is essential to call the hotel direct rather than booking through search engines.

“Word of mouth is very powerful in the disability community and hotel owners can be assured if they go that extra mile to help, the guest will tell everybody that they know.

“Loyalty is such a big thing and people will come back time and time again to a property if they are well catered to.

“Often people with disabilities travel in large groups, as well. My family for instance has previously travelled with a support person who has helped with my son

so that means we have booked two rooms instead of one.

Hotel operators need to look at that on the broader scale.”

•

The Queensland Government’s Inclusive Tourism Guide says: “Accessible accommodation includes all aspects of the place and space within the holiday destination, which may include communal areas, landscaped areas, gardens, recreation facilities, onsite restaurant, entry areas, and the various rooms within the private accommodation such as the kitchen, bathroom, toilets, dining/ living areas and bedrooms”.

•

Rooms that are of equal quality and comfort with the venue’s other rooms.

•

Clear circulation space for turning a wheelchair in bedrooms, dining areas and living rooms and basic circulation space for wheelchair use elsewhere.

•

Low-pile carpet that is non-slip and suits wheelchair traffic.

•

All doorways and hallways are wheelchair accessible.

•

Digital televisions in bedrooms and common areas have captions (subtitles) enabled.

•

Laundry facilities can be accessed and used by people who use a wheelchair.

The checklist for accessible accommodation includes:

Images courtesy of HLS Healthcare Pty Ltd

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After - Image courtesy of HLS Healthcare Pty Ltd

Friendly, welcoming staff who are willing and resourceful and are trained to assist.

•

A ‘roll-in’ shower—a wheelchair can roll into the shower recess.

•

Non-slip bathroom floor.

•

Hand-held shower head.

•

Toilets and showers with grab rails and shower seats.

•

No stairs to the room/unit or inside the rooms of the unit or outdoor spaces.

•

Continuous accessible paths allowing uninterrupted wheelchair travel.

REFURBISHMENT

•

Car parks are wide and preferably undercover.

Ms Jones began writing her blog in 2012 after a family holiday with the then 17-yearold Braeden to Disneyland.

“It went so well but it was such an obstacle for us to get over,” she said, “that mindset of how we are going to do this, taking a wheelchair, and wondering if it would work for us as a family.

“It was so liberating that I felt ‘oh gosh we must share this with other people and really empower them to experience the same sorts of things and feel that joy.

“When you are dealing with disabilities, so much of your life is spent with therapy and appointments. A holiday that goes well is so rejuvenating for people with challenges.”

Michael Johnson, the CEO of Tourism Accommodation Australia, said interior designers were now ensuring that accessible hotel rooms were as equally attractive as all other rooms.

“Particularly in the higher end luxury hotels operators have done extremely well to fulfill the special needs of guests with disabilities,” Mr Johnson said.

“We don't hear of too many problems in that area anymore because catering for people with disabilities is just now part and parcel of our industry.” www.accomnews.com.au

fresh, light feel at Byron

check-ins via guest mobile phones.

Byron at Byron’s new look is the result of innovative work by Barney Collins, director at EJE Architecture, and Clifford Rip, principal at Suede Interior Design.

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

The Crystalbrook Collection has spent $6 million revamping its Byron Bay luxury retreat, enveloping the property in what management calls “a new fresh, light feel, appropriate for its coastal setting”.

Crystalbrook took over the Byron at Byron property in October 2019 and management was excited to make improvements to the accommodation and give the whole property what the new owners describe as “a lovely refreshment”.

COVID pandemic was that it gave accommodation providers a chance to refurbish their properties when guest numbers were down, minimising the impact to holidaymakers.

One of the few upsides of the

Crystalbrook has put a heavy

A F PP U RO LLY V ED

CASE STUDY

$6 million buys

Images courtesy of Crystalbrook

focus on the sustainability and safety elements of the Byron Bay property, reducing about 90 percent of printed material, using apple iPad control centres in all the rooms, and providing the option of touch-free paperless

The resort is opening newly refreshed guest suites, all named to suit their natural surroundings, with guests able to book Rainforest Suites, a Rainforest Luxe Suite or a two-bedroom Rainforest Luxe Suite for larger groups, all offering leafy outlooks into the forest.

Guests seeking a view over the top of the forest can book the Treetops Suite, Treetops Luxe Suites or another two-bedroom variant. All accommodation features front and rear verandas, rainforest showers, deep soaking bathtubs, and separate living areas.

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WWW.THERM-OZ.NET.AU 50

AccomNews - Summer 2021

REFURBISHMENT

www.accomnews.com.au

The Eléme Day Spa is due to open in December.

Byron at Byron is nestled in almost 20 hectares of subtropical rainforest and offers 92 guest suites.

The resort works with its surrounding landscape to offer guests an immersive experience in nature and is part of a collection of Crystalbrook properties - one of Australia’s leading sustainable and innovative independent hospitality companies.

Byron at Byron has also appointed a new executive chef, Etienne Karner, to unveil the property’s revamped restaurant, Forest, offering sustainable produce most of which is grown less than three hours from Byron Bay. Management says that Karner has put together a “really fantastic menu that focuses on sustainable locally sourced produce”.

The only thing that travels further than three hours to the table at the refurbished restaurant is the Crystalbrook beef which comes from the Group’s 35,000-hectare Crystalbrook Station, three hours inland from Cairns.

Management says this assures guests of quality meat and the highest levels of animal welfare.

Mr Karner has made a seachange to Byron Bay from Sydney, bringing with him his world-class experience to work with the region’s abundance of stunning sustainable ingredients.

Boasting a career that has seen him grace kitchens in France, Germany, Dubai, India, Ireland, the USA and the Caribbean, Mr Karner joins the restaurant from Park Hyatt Sydney, where he held the position of executive chef.

“Forest’s opening menu will serve

www.accomnews.com.au

contemporary, approachable and distinctly Australian cuisine,” said a spokesperson for Byron at Byron.

“Highlights include poached Ballina king prawns with avocado, green apple and coriander, Paroo kangaroo tartar with lemon myrtle mayo, line caught local Jewfish with Windaboo mushrooms or for the sweet tooth, a nest of Kataifi pastry with white chocolate and salted caramel parfait.”

Mr Karner says Forest is “a hyper-local ode to the area’s exceptional produce, artisans, and farmers. Byron Bay is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and every effort has been made towards sustainability in line with Crystalbrook Collection’s commitment to responsible luxury”.

Eléme Day Spa, Crystalbrook’s signature spa brand, was developed in consultation with leading spa expert Naomi Gregory.

Eléme features bespoke facial and body therapies using the internationally renowned Sodashi skincare range, which features ethically sourced natural ingredients. For massage therapies, Eléme has partnered with Byron Bay’s Cura Co. Lab to develop custom-made ecoconscious therapeutic oils.

The property also offers daily yoga classes, a tennis court and infinity pool.

In keeping with its commitment to “responsible luxury’’, Byron at Byron makes use of environmentally friendly, upcycled, recycled, and locally sourced materials wherever possible.

The resort also has a plastic free policy with no plastic water bottles or straws.

REFURBISHMENT

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CHRISTIE ICON ACCESSIBLE BARBECUE CABINET The new Christie ICON stainless steel barbecue cabinet meets current sustainability, inclusivity, and occupational health and safety requirements.

Seated and standing users of all ages and abilities can use the DDA compliant facility. A sleek benchtop provides large, individual food preparation spaces.

Because you can orientate Christie’s barbecue cooktops in any direction, users can maintain an appropriate distance while sharing the facility. You can replace every component of the ICON cabinet in situ. Quick-release stable doors are easily removed for cleaning or changing the opening direction. Christie barbecue cabinets are flat-packed for easy site access, saving you transportation and offloading costs.

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Christie Barbecues

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03 9708 2999

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sales@dachristie.com

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www.dachristie.com

INTRODUCING ‘GUEST FRESH NEXT GEN PILLOW RANGE’ We proudly developed & introduced this exclusive range of pillows back in 2001, they have proven their outstanding performance as a market leader ever since. However, as with our entire bedding range, we remain in continual search for improvement as textile evolution moves into the next generation. Introducing ‘Guest Fresh Next Gen Pillow Range.’

Offering superior loft life, increased comfort and just wait till you experience this cyber soft next gen outer. Contact us today to put the WOW factor back into guests sleep experience.

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Mainlinen

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07 5437 8544

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REASSURE YOUR GUESTS WITH SALTO MOBILE KEYS Reduce handing over access credentials and human contact at checkIn. The SALTO Hospitality access control platform allows hotels to offer mobile check-in to guests, which reduces the number of human interactions and allows guests to access their room via SALTO’s native mobile access platform, JustIN Mobile. Using a smartphone, the guest is able to request the hotel room key prior to arrival. The hotel front desk is able to check the guest in via the Property Management System and issue them a secure digital key directly to their smartphone.

C SALTO Systems P 03 8683 9782 E hospitality.au@saltosystems.com W www.hospitality.saltosystems.com

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WHAT’S HOT

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THE WORLDS MOST ADVANCED AC REMOTE The Smart Remote PRO is packed with features to give you unprecedented control over how users can operate your AC. The PRO is our top of the range Energy Saving universal remote. You can set & lock your own preferred min and max temperature limits. The PRO also has our unique PLACEBO Effect and advanced tamper proofing.

Guaranteed compatible with any AC unit and will replace any existing AC remote.

C Aircon Off P 1300 552 897 E info@airconoff.com.au W www.airconoff.com.au

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? To the uninitiated this is just another umbrella base but if you are a resort focused outdoor furniture supplier you see the devil in the detail. A 4mm thick aluminium stem, which means no rust means you will not be throwing the base out in 12 months. A full circumference thread on the stem connecting to the base meaning 55mm of contact point. Therefore, not just a single bolt so it will not loosen, wobble, and snap off. 25kgs of concrete so it is heavy and won't rust. Ease of movement by way of the roller wheels, so you can get that perfect placement. With 37 Years of experience in the resort industry means we know what to look for.

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MASTER YOUR CLEAN WITH THE GL SERIES

SAVOIR-FAIRE ANTIBACTERIAL HAND WIPES Moving forward, concerns from COVID-19 will affect every touchpoint across the traveller journey and will be top of mind throughout the guest’s stay. It will be imperative that Hotels demonstrate their capabilities to provide a clean and healthy environment to instil the highest levels of guest confidence. The Savoir-Faire Anti-Bacterial Hand Wipe is designed to be supplied as a luxury, complimentary, in-room amenity to wipe down high touch point surfaces like remotes whilst also suitable for use as a hand wipe; killing 99.99% of bacteria.

Promoting healthy hygiene practices and enhanced proactive measures will not only put your guests at ease but will likely become the most influential factor in the hotel booking cycle for the foreseeable future.

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International Hotel Supply Company

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Where industrial power meets a compact cleaning solution.

Capital Equipment Hire’s new GL series from Fimap promises deep cleaning results with up to 40kg brush pressure for the most demanding applications.

Guest-based venues cover a large variety of areas including accommodation suites, to shared entertainment areas to industrial kitchens and laundry facilities. The Fimap GxL Pro and Fimap GL Pro enable easy and reliable cleaning performance to ensure staff operations behind the scenes continue working smoothly, hygienically, and professionally. Get in touch to secure your GxL or GL Pro now! Available for hire or purchase.

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E fimap@capitalequipment.com.au W www.capitalequipment.com.au

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WHAT’S HOT

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Preferred Supplier Programme

BED SPREADS & BED COVERING PRODUCTS

AIR CONDITIONING

assisting the industry For over twenty one years in Australia the preferred supplier programme and directory has been an extremely valuable and effective tool for accommodation managers.

Control your aircon Costs!

It allows managers to access industry specialists who are committed to the highest levels of service and dedicated to the accommodation and hospitality industries. This is extremely helpful for all accommodation providers but especially new managers as it allows them to benefit from the positive experiences other managers have had with their suppliers.

the then go on to the Preferred Supplier Database. Only Preferred Suppliers in this database have the opportunity to utilise the Preferred Supplier logo and make their contact details available to managers via the Preferred Supplier Directory, located in every issue of the A and online at accomnews.com.au.

Listed below are the stages of the process that ensure only the best industry suppliers can participate in the Preferred Supplier Programme: 1.

3.

4.

All nominations received are then qualified through a secondary questionnaire process to ensure nominated suppliers are able to provide the highest levels of service required and expected by managers.

Suppliers that still qualify are then asked to commit to the required levels of service for the next 12 months guaranteeing their commitment to the industry.

Subject to the satisfaction of these processes and commitments suppliers

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AccomNews - Summer 2021

5.

Preferred suppliers have their status reviewed every 12 months to ensure they still qualify and that their commitment to the industry is being met.

With these criteria in place it means that you as a manager have access to a complete range of specialist suppliers who are actively seeking to improve their services to the accommodation industry.

For your own peace of mind when dealing with any supplier ask if they are a Preferred Supplier. This can be verified by viewing a Preferred Supplier logo – made available for use in any of their stationery or marketing material or more simply by locating them in the Preferred Supplier Directory. So when looking for products or services give yourself the peace of mind that you are dealing with a recognised industry specialist and support these suppliers who are committed to servicing your needs.

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All suppliers must receive a nomination from a property currently using their services that is completely satisfied with their levels of service and are prepared to recommend them to another complex in the industry (ie. if asked by another manager they could comfortably recommend the required supplier).

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T 1300 659 053 M 0412 974 878 E paul@yardley.com.au W yardley.com.au

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Australia’s Leading Hotel Bedding Suppliers

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Reward your best suppliers by nominating them for the Preferred Supplier Programme.

They’ll thank you for it!

Simply send their details with a short testimonial to: psp@resortpublishing.com.au or call 07 5440 5322

PREFERRED SUPPLIER DIRECTORY

AccomNews - Summer 2021

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