AAA: One voice termination a takeover
Accommodation Association of Australia’s Richard Munro claims the offer presented to AAA by the Tourism Accommodation Association (AHA) was a takeover.
“I would like to start out by saying that this was a disappointing outcome in some respects, but ultimately leaves the association is a stronger and certainly more independent position than under the proposed joint venture, despite some of its advantages,” Mr Munro told Accomnews.
“First, we do not believe the offer presented by the AHA represented the ‘intention of retaining the spirit of the agreement’. To the contrary, the proposal was in essence a takeover proposition and was rejected unanimously at a meeting attended by 16 senior industry [executives] and independently by the AAA board as being not in the best interests of the industry. Therefore any offer to ‘service the obligation of their members at no additional fee’ would only have been offset through the absorption of AAA assets.
“Additionally the fact is that in most states the AHA cannot under their current rules take unlicensed properties as members, whereas AAA can and always will represent all accommodation operators, particularly through our registered organisation MIMA in Fair Work Australia,” Mr Munro said.
“The Accommodation Association of Australia continues to be strongly committed to uniting the accommodation industry through representation which has a single vision and a single voice which is purely focused on accommodation beds.
“We have consulted widely and the majority of the chains in Australia will join with the large regional network of independent members of the Accommodation Association of Australia to achieve the single vision which will lead to better outcomes for members. An overwhelming number of operators of accommodation businesses in Australia have expressed a desire for industry representation which is no longer compromised by competing interests, such gambling and liquor, and that is what will be delivered.”
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