Seasons greetings to one and all!

Motella HQ's secret lair now has an eerie silence.

Chairs are stacked on desks, piles of paper, files, empty bottles, takeaway containers and chip packets have been cleared away. We are about to lock-up and turn off the lights for a while while we concentrate on the day-job that's about to get chaotic.

If you get bored or require some guidance, there's 1,400 historical posts to read in the "Blog Archive" section.

May you all have a profitable and joyous Christmas and New Year!

Motella Xmas

On Christmas Day we will be spending time with a procession of family members and friends that will take some time out of their relaxing Christmas routine to come and visit us while we juggle guest demands at the motel.

It always interesting to observe what type of guests arrive to stay at our motel on Christmas Day. From previous experience we have catergorised them in to typical groupings.

We often have young or empty nest couples arrive that have purposely planned to avoid a "family Christmas." They arrive with smug smiles, their own catering and have a wonderful time together away from the obligations others would have thrust upon them.

One of the more high management groups of guests are the Asian gang of extended family members that usually depart from Pakuranga or Howick en masse and will sweep into our driveway late afternoon in several European sedans and people movers. The gaggle is usually made up of at least three separate family groupings that will arrive bewildered and confused: "why are all the shops closed?"

The vehicles will come to an abrupt halt and left parked in all sorts of imaginative acute angles in our car park while the occupants scatter to all points of the motel.  There will be a self appointed team leader that speaks a smattering of English that will engage in the obligatory negotiation process at reception. It will be difficult to establish exactly how many people will be staying, however the language barrier is often evaporated when communicating the numbers concerning tariff.

We usually commence the extended haggling session at double our usual tariff to ensure a mutually satisfactory "discount".

While most families will arrive before or after Christmas Day, we usually have at least one overenthusiastic family that have become bored with their Christmas ritual and have decided last moment to hit the road. They will arrive late in the day, mum and dad are usually not talking, at least one child is howling and another is sheepishly clutching a sick bag.

And last but not least we often attract at least one lonely soul that has had an argument with a family member and after been ejected needs some time alone to reflect. Some arrive bemused with a reasonably humorous yarn to tell while sadly others sadly arrive with bruises. 

In this crazy industry where every day is a Monday, we still regard Christmas Day as a special time.

Let the insanity begin!

The Great Kiwi Pioneering Spirit

 

Suddenly it dawned on them that they should've booked-in to that motel...

Anticipating the year ahead

Unlike some people, we're looking forward to 2012!

The Motella 2012 Predictions

As we look forward to leaving 2011 behind us, we can now focus on the likely predictions relating to the motel industry for next year. Right off the bat we can confidently say that in 2012, trade will continue to be challenging.

With the majority of accommodation businesses unable to fill-their-tanks over the RWC, there is a real risk that many will sink into the depths of winter-blues mid 2012. "Just one-more hard winter" may yet again be the catch cry for next year as accommodation providers tough it out in time for an improving economy over the summer season late next year.

Motels that are well located, have reinvested, offer a good quality product and friendly, professional service will always do well - others next year may continue to struggle. 

We can be thankful that New Zealand is in a relatively fortunate position and it will never be as bad as the naysayers' predict.

Here's our top 15 predictions for 2012:

1. Some Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) will go bust. OTAs have had a period of upheaval and consolidation over the last few years. While online sales will continue to rise, the phenomenal growth experienced as customers gravitated en-mass to online channels is now behind us. Some OTAs may experience growth by continued acquisition, but not at the rate of previous years. Large Northern Hemisphere OTAs are playing the long game and investing unsustainable resource to gain market share. There will be some smaller operations (and a few larger ones) that will be unable to sustain the pace and will not last the distance next year.
2. The Google factor. Google's master plan for world domination of the travel industry appear to be under wraps for now. As the majority of travel decisions are filtered through their search engine, Google have the power to influence consumer behavior and dominate the travel industry. How Google will skirt around anti-trust laws and maximise this influence in 2012 remains to be seen. Google is unlikely to involve itself directly with the travelling public, instead they will cash-in on numerous levels of search advertising and developing/licensing further platforms such as Hotel Finder.
3. OTAs will attempt to raise commission rates. OTAs are experiencing a declining growth in demand along with increased competition. Fickle consumer behavior is necessitating an increase in the ratio of staffing levels per transaction. For OTAs to remain visible, increasing investment in marketing is required (Google is the big winner here) and the cost of new and improved technology is increasing. While traditional agents operating from bricks and mortar on highstreets have been able to maintain commission levels for many years, there seems to be an irony that web based agencies may not be able to sustain the same levels.
4. Some airlines will go bust. The profitability of many airlines have always been volatile and further offshore based casualties may cause ripples in New Zealand.
5. Quality will overtake Environmentalism. Accommodation providers will give green-initiatives less priority in 2012 as the focus is diverted to the necessity of investing in quality. The consumer is increasingly looking for value, but does not want to compromise on quality. After experiencing difficult economic times, eco-guilt is fading. The consumer has a sense of quality entitlement and is starting to resent miserly accommodation eco-practices dressed-up as saving the planet. Accommodation providers will be responding to customer demands by delivering tangible quality customer experiences. In 2012, economic sustainability will replace grandstanding green-wash  
6. 100% Pure. Tourism New Zealand will continue to edge the 100% Pure slogan away from a perceived environmental reference to a focus more on the visitor experience. The new aspirational moniker "100% Pure You" has been introduced this year and there will be continued subtle development in a move away from a reliance on marketing natural landscapes.
7. Qualmark NZ Ltd. Expect some fireworks as Qualmark impose their newly signed-off quality assessment criteria for motels and commences its new regime of inspection by surprise. The motel sector having dragged-on the review process of its assessment criteria longer than any other sector will get a reality-check in 2012 when the new criteria is applied. In line with ever-changing customer expectations, some star ratings will need to fall and those motels that relied upon the previously embedded Enviro-award to boost their star ratings will get a double-whammy.
8. Domestic travel People will still travel in 2012. There will be a modest growth in commercial travel in 2012, as most companies realise that they must continue putting reps on the road to maintain sales. Leisure trade will continue to be challenging as customers are distracted with the perception of "cheap" overseas travel and any must-have consumer-item with a screen on it.
9. Local Government. Moteliers that have faced the brunt of local rate increases will be disappointed with the lack of action after this year's review on the performance of local government. The rationalisation of council operations and the introduction of private enterprise is unlikely to occur in 2012. Expect further council blow-outs next year exasperated by localised RWC expenditure.
10. Bed Tax. This bogey will not die - be vigilant that this still may be raised from "left field" in 2012.
11. Will 2012 be the year of the mobile channel? Maybe - The hype will reach fever pitch as new players line up to offer accommodation providers with directory-style listings. Accommodation providers will also need to consider investment in their existing websites to convert them into mobile capable sites. 
12. The rise of the "Apartment" sector This year, the motel sector by allowing jealousy, ego and insecurity to rule, have cut loose the apartment sector. The motel industry have let the genie out of the bottle and have enabled a small independent new accommodation sector to be formed. Watch this small but perfectly formed sector establish itself and grow in 2012 and present a new appealing accommodation option to the public.  
13. The rise of the "Holiday Home" sector TradeMe's Holidayhouses and AA's Bookabach remain popular travel websites as a flood of privateer homeowners remain willing to expose themselves to the short term accommodation market. The web stats suggest that a vast number of Kiwis planning a trip seem to be at least willing to have a voyeuristic look at the emerging holiday home sector while considering accommodation options.
14. Last minute travel. The last minute model of selling inventory online will continue in 2012 with the average booking lead-in time reducing further. The introduction of copycat mobile apps like Get a Room that only offer rooms after midday on the day will encourage this trend.
15. The rise of Social Media? Social Media will continue to rise in popularity as businesses jump in with a me-too attitude. Those already in this space will be wondering if the time and effort is worth it and sadly 2012 will not reveal a clear answer to this question. The promise of social media channels evolving into a mainstream method of marketing for the accommodation industry is still some time off.

Have we missed anything out?

Bowie's lost 1973 Top of the Pops performance

What a great Xmas present! - After 40 years an iconic glam David Bowie tape is discovered capturing when he was at his most stroppiest, creative peak.

The scourge of caravan culture

As Kiwis look forward to shutting down workplaces across the land for the great annual pilgrimage to the beach, they will thinking about their mode of holiday accommodation.

There is a common New Zealand psyche that dictates that when choosing holiday accommodation, Kiwis err on the side of...being miserable. That's why the number one preferred Kiwi holiday activity involves sponging free accommodation off friends and family.

Slightly higher up the food chain is a hard core of mean-spirited Kiwis that revel in clogging up the highways and visually polluting the scenery with cumbersome caravans and other assorted motel-dodging camping paraphernalia. 

Regular readers of this blog will appreciate my intolerance for caravans and any other form of camping. I'm not alone.

Jeremy Clarkson has been so outspoken about the blight of caravans that he has been stalked by disgruntled members from the the UK Caravan Society that have seen fit to protest outside his Top Gear television show

Fellow Top Gear host Richard Hammond has released an interactive DVD where the viewer is rewarded at the end with the chance to blow up a caravan. (Worth considering as a Christmas stocking filler for the kids).

Meanwhile in New Zealand we also have enlightened commentary on the scourge of caravan culture. Media personality and car-nut, Paul Henry has been quoted: “Have you ever seen a caravan blow up? Oh, you can not get enough of watching caravans blow up. ..."

You just can't argue with logic like that!

Ex-W(h)anganui Mayor Michael Laws in one of his more insightful rants once said "Holiday parks are for people who can't afford motels."

While praising the enlightened that will be spending quality time staying in motels this holiday season, we can concede that sometimes caravans do have their place:

Sh*t Car - Great Ad

Painting it Black

I see that Air New Zealand continue to paint it black, with their latest effort of sprucing up a brand new Boeing 777-300 before delivery. The paint job looks stunning on the biggest plane yet to be given an all-black treatment.

On previous promotional black plane versions (as on the Airbus above) the koru logo was made smaller on the tail section to allow greater dominance of the sweeping 2-tone silver fern. It is interesting that with their latest version, Air New Zealand has returned the koru back to a more prominent scale similar to their existing teal accented fleet.

Will this steam rumors that the koru is about to be dropped in favour of the silver fern?   

More Mobile Motels

It seems that all research is pointing towards more and more travellers turning to their mobile devices to not only research accommodation and travel options, but to make bookings. This makes perfect sense as we are all intrinsically aware that upwardly mobile, on-the-go-travellers are increasingly making last-minute decisions and are spending more time looking for travel inspiration from the screens of smartphones and tablets. And mobile is the perfect fit for travel...because it's mobile!

Mobile channel bookings have increased four-fold between 2008 and 2010 and although this has started from a from a low base, it's likely that this phenomenal rate will continue. To support this theory, Google have predicted that mobile will overtake PCs as the most common web-access device by 2013.

It's difficult for an accommodation provider in New Zealand to put all of this into perspective, especially when consumer behavior here tends to lag behind overseas travel trends. 

It would seem inevitable that Kiwi consumers will catch-up. Travellers are adopting smartphones and tablets at a rapid pace and they are the hottest desirable Christmas gift this year.

In order for accommodation providers to expose themselves to a relevant audience, it's crucial that this includes optimising websites for mobile along with using booking engines that are also mobile-enabled.

While it is probably cost prohibitive for most accommodation providers to create, market and maintain their own mobile application, it is appealing to use third party providers that list bookable accommodation options on a mobile app. 

Up until recently, Kiwi moteliers relied upon listing with northern hemisphere Online Travel Agencies to be included on mobile apps. It's great to see that AA Travel have added online booking to their iPhone app over the weekend and have ended Jasons Travel's brief reign as the only New Zealand based company to offer a bookable accommodation app. 

Much like Jasons app, the process of identifying suitable accommodation options when using AA Travel's updated app may not be as user friendly as it could be. After selecting a location, users are presented with an unwieldy list of accommodation options that are unqualified by availability and room type (ie suitability of room according to number of persons). With this said, AA's app is still very usable and its timely release before the Christmas holiday season is significant.

If we are honest, the release of both the AA and Jasons apps will probably not unleash a tsunami  of bookings for accommodation suppliers at first - however, who knows what their significance as a source of business may be by this time next year? 

Hopefully, Kiwis that have received a shiny new Apple mobile device under the Christmas tree in a few days time will join others that are increasingly making travel decisions on-the-go. It's good news that we have a choice of apps by two competing New Zealand travel companies that have enabled iPhone users to book Kiwi motels.