Be optimistic for 2013 but watch your processes and costs
We and the whole Sunshine Coast area have had a fantastic Christmas and New Year period, both in the hinterland and coast, with local restaurants here having to turn away guests and plenty of no vacancy signs abounding.
May that long remain.
Weather was clearly a major factor, even if this was the first time in 14 years that we have continued to buy drinking water way past November. Our good fortune however has to date been the misfortune of our colleagues in the Kings Canyon, parts of Victoria, and in the very beautiful Tasman Peninsula and up the coasts of the Apple Isle. For them our thoughts go out for a swift rebuilding program and a return of the tourism business. For whilst some of us have deliberately built or bought accommodation in disaster prone areas, where we should always take as much precaution as practical, my knowledge of the Tasman Peninsula and the Dunalley Township for example, would never have indicated the devastation of so much infrastructure.
On the political front, we seem to be marching forward by attempting to implement recommendations in eco-tourism from permits to new tracks as a result of initiatives taken or being taken by state and local government. During the low news period however our Queensland paper decided to dump on our hard working minister of tourism for having taken off to the Maldives, instead of following her passionate advice for Australians to holiday at home. I can well understand parents with children living around the world, needing to see them over the family holiday period. We, too, often arrange to meet up our family spread between Thailand and Tasmania midway between our places of residence. But fortunately I am not a politician.
The politicians that really must face up to their responsibility to the voting public are those ones who do not understand what the travelling public, domestic and international, need when on holiday – retail outlets, restaurants and activities that are open when they want to use them and at a price that is cost beneficial both to them and to the owner. If other industries such as the taxi business can arrange for staff to be available 24×7, so must the hospitality and tourism industry.
My colleagues across the industry in Australia are appalled by this total lack of business acumen and understanding by the present federal powers that be. We have an election this year and, hopefully, the result will help our industry large and small in keeping and growing our business and assisting our economy to grow.
So as we go into 2013, there are always opportunities for us regardless of the present problems. Business from mining down to retail keeps hammering on about lowering costs and greater productivity. New technology will help and our visitors will expect that from us. We now have app enhanced alarm clock radios in every suite; and are working through the Xpresso machines as well, for which the recent Resort News article on them as well as discussions that I had with Bill Darby of five-star Rumba was most helpful. Not only do we have to keep up with what our guests require but we can also save money when upgrading to the newest technology and packages as we have done in the communications field.
On the marketing side, we all have perforce joined the ever increasing booking services of Wotif, Quickbeds, Stayz, Booking.com, Expedia, AAA Tourism et al; the social media rage continues and TripAdvisor has its admirers (one of our local restaurants is top of the TripAdvisor league for the region) and its detractors.
This marketing trail all costs money particularly as commissions increase, so what is critical as that they all provide cost effective business for us. We had an unfortunate situation of a cancellation, which was officially advised with a request for the client to be paid back – some five days after their booking should have occurred. While the whole debacle was amicably sorted, what had happened is that the client had sent an email to our channel manager asking for cancellation. Correctly in my view they did not cancel or send that on to us. It has to be the responsibility of the actual supplier to liaise directly with the accommodation house before cancelling on the booking system itself; that system then sending both an SMS and email to follow up. It is highly dangerous to allow guests access to our booking management system.
Throughout this whole exercise, both we and our suppliers must always have the needs and wishes of our guests first and foremost. And our politicians and bureaucrats from Canberra to Byron Bay must understand that, even if they have never been in business. Otherwise the economy, our jobs, our fabulous lifestyle and our future prosperity will go backwards.
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