Budget sets standard for quality
The Budget Motel Chain is a leading brand, providing excellence in accommodation for a diverse market.
It is widely known and well respected for offering good, clean comfortable accommodation at affordable rates for cost-conscious travellers throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Budget properties can be found in the smallest country towns through to the largest cities, but they all deliver a unique balance of attractive aesthetics, good service and moderate pricing.
The Budget Motels Chain encompasses four brands; the well-known Budget Motels, Orbit Inns, Paragon Hotels and their newest brand, Budget Motels Gold.
Christopher Fozard is Budget Motels’ operations manager. He brings years of defence, customer service and community organisation experience to his role and of course a love of hospitality. He warmly welcomes interest from all accommodation providers, eager to expand the Budget family.
Below he points out the brand’s unique points of difference and what benefits members can expect to receive:
- A simple fee structure ensuring equality for all members
- We own and operate the UseROSS channel manager, which is included with membership and has been redeveloped and will be launching in the coming months
- Secure, single use Virtual Credit Card (VCC) for use by properties which employ the UseROSS channel manager. These are designed to minimise fake bookings and no-shows by charging the guest at time of booking to ensure that the property receives part or full payment of the booking
- A Direct Deposit System (DDS) again for use by properties which use the UseROSS channel manager. This DDS system is designed to replace the VCC system and reduce the merchant fees properties pay for entering credit card numbers in to their Eftpos machine for bookings
- A book now button. Although there are a lot of book now buttons available, our one is designed specifically for the UseROSS channel manager, making the booking process simple and secure
- In-house IT support for members who use the UseROSS channel manager
- Access to bookings via our corporate contracts
- Listing in our downloadable accommodation guide, so you can now store it on your mobile device
- Assistance with property Facebook pages
- An ever-growing list of preferred suppliers
- Keeping up to date with regular newsletters containing the latest industry news
- Access to our relief managers
- An invitation to our closed, members only, Facebook group. Have a question or comment, ask our members for their suggestions.
- Annual conferences and AGMs in beautiful locations
- Ability to install signage of one of Australia’s most famous motel icons, the Budget Motels black and gold ‘B’.
The Budget Motel Chain’s team…
Christopher attests to the strength and spirit of the team at Budget Motel Chain.
He said: “The team consists of our dedicated head office staff members but also our board of directors, who are themselves moteliers with vast experience and backgrounds.
Their decisions and leadership have helped direct not only the future of the Budget Motel Chain, but the industry as well.
“Now in our 40th year, we continue to be supported by some of the accommodation sector’s leading organisations, focusing on providing the best levels of service and knowledge to our members and stakeholders.”
The importance of teamwork..
Christopher told us that it is now more important than ever to band together. “In the current climate, with the OTAs controlling so much of the online booking market, we as an industry need to work closer together with the Accommodation Association of Australia, to push back against these behemoths and take some of the dominance away from them. Not only for our members, but for all property owners across Australia, especially the ones that feel they are just ‘a small fish in a big pond’.
“This could be partly achieved by educating the public about the percentages that OTAs charge and the amount of money that they are taking offshore, without paying the same business taxes that every other company pays.”
Christopher is convinced that the way forward is to show a united front.
“One challenge the industry faces is the decision to operate independently.
“We all understand that a strong, united front will empower us to make changes that will benefit the entire industry and therefore individual operators, but what we also see is that with time, this united front will increase brand value and booking revenue.
“Some accommodation providers are willing to push the boundaries in terms of what they can achieve and change but provide little motivation for innovation in the industry. If accommodation providers stop operating autonomously and begin to collaborate, we could see several (almost) immediate benefits to industry providers.
Such as?
“OTAs no longer commanding price parity, dictating promotions, guest relocations and OTA commission based on location.
“Pushing technological providers to innovate and bring convenience to their day-to-day operations.
“Making decisions not on ‘gut feeling’ but instead based on predictive analysis and support from the industry.
“Influencing the government and other decision-making agencies to ensure a growth in the industry.
“Being better equipped for change and collaboration with other industries to create ‘win-win’ situations.”
Finally, Christopher added: “The Budget Motel Chain would like to get to a point where we can deliver such benefits to all accommodation providers and will continue to work to promote the ‘little guy’.
Make contact with us today and benefit from being part of one of the country’s biggest accommodation families!”
Mandy has over 17 years of accommodation and tourism industry writing experience and is Editor of AccomNews & Resort News, Publisher of SchoolNews & Director of Multimedia Pty Ltd. She is a retired registered nurse with a 25-year NHS career that followed a few unforgettable years in hotel housekeeping.
