Mitchell Corp Acquires Ezibed: Strengthens position in Tourism Sector
Christchurch, May 31 2012
Christchurch based tourism service provider, Mitchell Corporation has acquired fellow New Zealand online last minute accommodation provider, Ezibed.com in a deal that further expands the companies’ investment in the Tourism sector and adds value to its partners via its extensive distribution network.
Matt Standing, CEO of Mitchell Corp is thrilled to have added this company to the range of services that the company provides and sees it as a natural extension to the work and services already provided to the industry.
“We very much see it as a support tool for both our accommodation and wholesale partners and we now work with some 5,000 properties in nine countries. Given the level of investment we have made in the online environment and ongoing development of interfaces to some of New Zealand’s largest tourism operators, this move was seen by the owners as further anchoring our position as a key player in tourism in this country and flags our confidence in the future of the industry”.
Ezibed was New Zealand’s first online last minute accommodation booking startup, founded in 2003 to provide competition to international websites who were beginning to enter the New Zealand market. It was also the first to introduce authenticated reviews.
Former Managing Director of Ezibed, Gareth Pearce says that the journey of developing the platform has been an enjoyable experience.
“A local travel booking platform has been developed and it’s a great feeling knowing that a team has built a product and continued to refine it to ensure it has the potential to grow even bigger – and remain locally owned.”
“Over the past years, Ezibed has enhanced its connectivity across the travel sector to provide more last minute deals in more markets than any other New Zealand hotel booking website. Other travel brands connect through international affiliate networks like Expedia or Booking.com, however with Ezibed, it is a fully custom built locally developed platform”, says Pearce.
“Ezibed has developed a loyal customer base seeking accommodation deals and having enthusiastic accommodation operators wanting to extend their reach & profile online has ensured deals are always available.”
In terms of the forward direction of the company, Mitchell Corp are keen to integrate the system into their existing platform as quickly as possible in order to take advantage of their wide distribution network. Operationally, properties will not see any immediate changes to the way they interact with Ezibed.
“We will continue to invest in Ezibed and intend to ensure the brand is fully supported via our online team and central reservations office.”
Going forward, we do see more opportunities for the brand and are in active discussions with key partners to fully take advantage of this technology. The former Directors of Ezibed should be very proud of what they have developed”, says Mr Standing.
“It is a real honour for the baton to be passed to our company, to continue to grow that technology.”
For any questions, please contact;
Matt Standing
CEO – Mitchellcorp matt@mchg.co.nz
Facts: Mitchell Corporation
‐ Mitchell Corp Directors Chris Mitchell & Matt Standing
‐ New Zealand privately owned company
‐ Launched 1985
‐ Owns and operates the brands Mainstay Hotels, Golden Chain Motels and Oceana Resorts and Apartments
‐ Owns and operates the Go Kiwi, Go Koala and Golden Chain pass products
Ezibed
‐ Ezibed former Directors Kerry & Diane Turner & Gareth Pearce
‐ Launched November 2003
‐ First New Zealand owned company to provide online last minute accommodation booking service & authenticated hotel reviews
‐ Expanded into Australia, Canada and Pacific Islands in 2007
‐ United States launched in 2008
‐ Winner of both the 2008 & 2009 Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards – Online, Online Innovation. Runner Up for Service Provider
‐ Connections to over 3,000 accommodation operators in 8 countries
‐ Acquired by Mitchell Corporation May 2012
Sometimes it may pay to implement procedural changes behind the scenes without the mandatory press release. Maybe this was one of those occasions?
I see that Best Western in North America have stepped-up their cleaning program and have announced that they are issuing Black lights and ultraviolet light wands to housekeeping staff that will regularly recreate a typical CSI scene as they seek out those pesky hard-to-find forensic matter left behind in guest rooms.
While its great news that Best Western are implementing an intensified cleaning regime, maybe broadcasting this won't be reassuring to fickle members of the public that may find it disconcerting that the hotel chain has had to institute a CSI-caliber route to ensure a clean, germ-free environment for its patrons.
Read more about Best Western's new cleaning regime HERE.
The recently released Nielsen New Zealand Online Retail Report that has been widely reported in the media has given us a snapshot of online consumer behavior in 2012.
Not only are Kiwis browsing online to compare consumer items, they are more able and willing to give their credit card details to an online retailer to close the deal.
The stats that support the increasing trend of online consumerism are impressive and I can't help wondering if the average Kiwi motel is attracting the same dramatic rate of lift that other industry groups are experiencing?
24 per cent, of all online purchases made from New Zealand last year were through foreign-based websites. That was up from 21 per cent in 2010 and 17 per cent in 2009.
50 per cent of Kiwis aged over 18 shop online and they are buying more than before.
The number of Kiwis buying six items or more via the internet rose 21 per cent last year.
Buying online popularity has doubled in New Zealand since 2004 - as broadband speeds have increased.
Travel-related products are by far the most popular purchase online, comprising 44 per cent of all sales.
Of those shopping online, half bought plane tickets and a quarter bought accommodation or hired cars.
Air New Zealand's online sales has doubled in the past five years and constituted 40 per cent of all sales.
In their latest Customer Newsletter, Seekom have generously revealed online channel statistics from their accommodation provider clients that use their channel management software.
When we rank the sales channels in order (of average bookings per property), we can clearly see the relativity between the sources of online reservations. Not surprisingly the operator's own website is on top, however the dominance of Booking.com is evident; spanking all others by returning more bookings per 100 rooms than any other source.
Ignoring the chain generated bookings, New Zealand based sources of online bookings amongst this snapshot of Seekom's client base is abysmal - I would suspect that the current trend is that overseas OTAs are widening the gap.
Please note that the data was taken during April 2012 and is expressed: Channel: Average bookings (per connected property / per 100 connected rooms)
Oh boy! Another quality movie to add to your must-see list!
A bunch of sadistic and quirky Japanese film producers are about to release a horror movie in the great traditions of that tried and true American movie synopsis: A group of unsuspecting good-looking young folk find themselves staying in an out-of-the-way creepy, motel and are picked-off one-by-one:
"There is a Japanese style inn located in an out-of-the-way area near Mount Fuji. No one knows if it’s in business or not, but the inn is owned by two people: the expressionless host, and his bewitching daughter.
The host lures six patrons to stay at his inn for one night. All the guests feel the inn has an odd feel to it, but none of them pays attention to it in particular.
In reality, the host and his daughter have a hidden agenda. They are hunting in order to feed the host’s son: a huge living zombie hidden away in a locked room, whom these cruel hunters dote on as if he were still part of the family.
A twisted tale illustrating conflicts of consciousness, cold-blooded insanity, and the depths one will sink to for the love of one’s family is about to begin…”
Expect to see the (already small) percentage of Japanese sourced guest nights in motels to dramatically fall soon after this movie is released;-)
At our motel, we issue tokens with a simple password made up of 6 random letters and numbers to access our wireless internet network. Most of the time, I give these out in the form of a nicely printed voucher as part of the check-in process, however we still get a lot of our guests that ring us from their room requesting an internet code.
It is surprising how frustrating the process of communicating a 6-charactor code can be. More often than not, guests that initiate the phone call will not have a pen ready, and there is the maddening wait while they scurry around to find one. Then there are those guests that insist on laboriously finding and henpecking the characters on their keyboard as you wait an eternity between their haphazard keystrokes.
While numbers are easily spoken and understood, letters are harder to communicate - My monotone Kiwi accent, that mashes together the English language doesn't help this process;-)
In order to make letters understood I have been using phonetics with the first word that comes to mind - however, the lovely Mrs Motella kindly pointed out that using associating words such as "D for Dummy" and "R for Retard" is probably not appropriate as part of our professional customer service mantra.
A quick search of Google has given me the more familiar and accepted Army Phonetics Alphabet that I've reproduced for easy reference - I promise I'll try and use these in future:
A: Alpha B: Bravo C: Charlie D: Delta E: Echo F: Foxtrot G: Golf H: Hotel I: India J: Juliet K: Kilo L: Lima M: Mike N: November O: Oscar P: Papa Q: Quebec R: Romeo S: Sierra T: Tango U: Uniform V: Victor W: Whiskey X: X-Ray Y: Yankee Z: Zulu
I've been following the progress of a plan to build a 36-unit, 2 storey motel complex in a leafy mixed use suburb of Orange in New South Wales, Australia.
It is proposed that the motel property be unmanned and guests after booking online would gain access via a text message on the day of arrival with a room number and security code. The property will be monitored by security cameras and an off-site employee would be on-call 24-hours if needed.
I've got mixed feelings about these types of complexes as they take away the personification and the hosting aspect of a motel that is manned with owners that have a vested interest in their business. However, there is a market for this type of development and if someone wants to risk their own funds - then so be it!
A motel is always a good neighbor. The nature of the business dictates that the commercial building and grounds are well maintained and the activity of hosting guests has little impact on the immediate environment. A swoop over the proposed site courtesy of Google, would indicate that the new complex would fit well into the location amongst established mixed residential and small businesses.
What has fascinated me, is the reaction that this seemingly innocuous development has caused.
Locals have labelled it a ''car thieve's paradise'', a ''double-storey noise factory'', akin to a ''Port Botany cargo terminal'', and a ''front for an illegal brothel''.
To make matters worse for the developer, the Sydneysider Bryce McDougall, they do not like the look of it or that it would share a driveway with a childcare centre.
While in New Zealand we can bemoan that bureaucracy often stands in the way of progress, Australia seems to be just as vexed. After being influenced by the hysteria of a couple of busybody townsfolk and their own misplaced bias, the Orange City Council's Sustainable Development Committee rejected the application with the following whimsical rationale:
The hapless developer that wanted to risk his own capital and add value to a community has been knocked back by cardigan-wearing non-producers that are channeling 1940's FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover that waged war against motels, which he labeled "a new home of crime in America, a new home of disease, bribery, corruption, crookedness, rape, white slavery, thievery, and murder."
We wish the developer all the best for the inevitable appeal.
* $2.86 billion city rail loop. * $18.6m cruise ship terminal. * $16m superyacht facility. * Free swimming pools for children 16 years and under. * $10m for waterfront theatre.
One of the more bizarre items on Len Brown's shopping list is a budgeted $3.2m to purchase a playmate for Auckland Zoo elephant, Burma.
Accommodation providers will be wary of attracting the brunt of rates hikes and the possible introduction of a "bed tax" that was embedded into the Council's draft long term plan. A proposal to levy a daily impost on each visitor staying in commercial accommodation would be used to "contribute towards council transport costs and to offset rates rises" looks increasingly likely as the increased rates burden start to bite.
While Accommodation providers will be burdened with rates increases and the possibility of a fresh new tax, it looks like Auckland City Council is also trying to manipulate the local accommodation market by touting for investment in a new downtown five-star hotel.
Councilors love getting involved with hotels - especially 5-star facilities. Offering incentives (corporate welfare) and meddling in the free market allows councilors great ribbon cutting photo-ops. A gleaming brand-new hotel is seen as a badge of progress and a mystical key that unlocks streams of cash from previously lost tourism opportunities. The reality is that any edifice that is built due to behind the scenes sweetheart deals and the cronyism of public officials will have serious unintended economic consequences including cannibalising competing businesses.
The managing director of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, BK Chiu has some interesting observations:
The head of a major hotel company has criticised Auckland Council for touting for investment in a new downtown five-star hotel, saying no more hotels are needed as the country is already saturated.
BK Chiu, managing director of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand, told investors in the NZX-listed company the group had already made a submission to the Auckland Council about its plans and how they might affect the hotel industry. Downturns in tourism out of Europe, the United States and Australia were continuing to hurt existing operators, he said at the group's annual meeting in Auckland yesterday.
No-one would build a hotel in Auckland based on current room rates, he said. "Part of our submission [asks], `how have hotels been doing in Auckland?' – and I can go back 10 years."
Indexing over the past decade shows room rates have not kept up with inflation, he said.
Hotel occupancy for the year to December 2011 was down to 64.3 per cent across the hotel group, which has 34 hotels nationally, down from 66.4 per cent in 2010. The group's submission about Auckland's future urged the council to stick to creating demand as Wellington has successfully done.
"Let us look after the supply side," Chiu said.
New Zealand typically built capacity to the maximum which just hurt the industry and created wildly fluctuating room rates.
"We've seen it in Auckland, we've seen it in Rotorua, we've seen it in Queenstown," Chiu said.
"There's enough rooms in Queenstown to last the next 25 years assuming you have 3 per cent growth."
I love rampant consumerism, in particular the self-perpetuating build-up before the release of a new iPhone. If history trends are correct, the new iPhone will be called the iPhone 5 and will be released with hysterical fanfare some time in October.
Model Release date
iPhone 29 June 2007
iPhone 3G 11 July 2008
iPhone 3GS 19 June 2009
iPhone 4 24 June 2010
iPhone 4S 14 October 2011
iPhone 5 ?
According to the building buzz on the internet, the biggest upgrade feature will be a larger screen that will make the new iPhone 5 comparable with current HTC and Samsung hero phones. The possible introduction of a larger screen has apparently come with the blessing from the grave of former CEO, Steve Jobs that was previously opposed to a screen too large to reach the outer edges with your thumb.
Other rumoured new iPhone features include a 12-megapixel camera, A6 quad core processor and liquid metal chassis...
History also tells us that often Apple rumours that are published as fact before the release are often wrong...but that doesn't stop Apple fan-boys and girls providing Apple with free consumer generated publicity by building anticipation to ferocious levels while trying to second-guess what will be on offer.
Whatever the specs of the iPhone, when it is finally released the hysteria generated will ramp-up demand for smartphones and leapfrog the change in consumer web browsing behavior. As the iPhone 5 becomes the must-have consumer item, the older model phones will be recycled into the hands of consumers that will be upgrading from non browser enabled phones and are unable to afford new.
iPhone owners more often than not, obsessively look after their object-of-desire and can't even bring themselves to throw away the original packaging. The second-hand phone market will soon be flooded with some very good quality phones.
For accommodation providers, this means that the widely touted prediction that by 2014, more people will be using mobile devices to browse the internet, than desktop devices - is more likely to become reality.
In most surveys, travel is the number one motivation for mobile search. The best thing an accommodation provider can do at the moment is to buy a mobile device and start looking at their business through the eyes of a consumer.
It was a lovely, serene day when the Google camera car breezed past the sleepy Black Stump Motel in April last year.
No one knew at the time, that under one of the motel's beds was hidden incriminating evidence that could unlock a 21-year-old murder case.
Items discovered in a motel room that the murder victim stayed in for about a week before her death in the central-west of New South Wales, has sparked a second inquest which opened at Tamworth Coroner’s Court yesterday.
"Sergeant Jason Darcy told the court that the motel’s owners found the secret compartment during renovations in February.
It contained a hacksaw blade, a business card for a United Kingdom insurance company, a toilet roll, the butt of a rifle, a package of condoms dating back to the time of Ms Hill’s death, and a used condom."
Moteliers will be rubbing their hands with glee with the prospect of Sky TV getting a slapping after pinko compulsion aficionados, Clare Curran and Jim Anderton raised concerns about Sky's business success.
Sports bodies that fund and administer public interest groups' sporting hobbies are apparently handing over cash to Sky to televise their events - I would have thought that, Clare & Anderton would have been in favour of using other-people's-money to televise sporting events?
Maybe the answer to curtail this anomaly is for the government to simply stop funding the sporting bodies in the first place?
As micro-managing parents we regularly use technology to hector our teenage children.
I was amused to read Mrs Motella's recent one-way text conversation with our reluctant and distracted 16-year-old boy - obviously he had more important issues to cope with instead of communicating with his exasperated mother for the last 2-days:
I spent a bit of time yesterday helping a recent immigrant get settled into her new flat.
She has a remarkable story. She came over to New Zealand 6-months ago from India in the hope of improving her and her family's life. She has left behind her husband and her 3-year-old son while she establishes herself. After completing exams and going through a process of practical on-the-job experience, she has recently managed to qualify to New Zealand standards and is working shift work part time until a full time position becomes available in her profession.
I got the impression that her modest 2-bedroom flat that is now sparsely furnished with a few x-motel items that I donated was a lot better than the environment she had left behind in India. The only item of significance she had purchased was an old 10-speed bike she needs to commute to work.
What amazed me about her was her burning drive and ambition. She has a positive attitude and was extremely happy and grateful that she is living in a beautiful country with such a high standard of living.
Once reunited, this family will add tremendous value to society. I couldn't help fantasizing about a regime where we could selectively export some of our own ungrateful, non-producing members of society in exchange for ambitious immigrants. I wondered how the average deadbeat welfare dependent Kiwi that is overburdened with entitlement would cope after being parachuted into the middle of India?
With this in mind, today I purchased, Life Behind The Lobby a book that tells the story behind the 'Patel-Motel' phenomenon in America.
Incredibly, Indian Americans own about half of all the motels in the United States. Even more remarkable, most of these motel owners come from the same region in India and—although they are not all related—seventy percent of them share the surname of Patel. Most of these motel owners arrived in the United States with few resources and, broadly speaking, they are self-employed, self-sufficient immigrants who have become successful—they live the American dream.
I wonder to what extent this phenomenon has occurred in the New Zealand motel industry?
An unnamed party has commissioned a lawyer to front the plan.
The proposal is to build a five-star, 28-level hotel and apartment accommodation that features a swimming pool, a rooftop restaurant, an all-season entertainment rooftop area, car parks and a penthouse presidential suite. If built, the building will be the tallest in Dunedin and stand out from the crowd with the use of aluminum-framed textured facades and extensive use of glass.
The overall look of the stark design is bound to evoke controversy and it's scale will radically change the accommodation scene in New Zealand's largest provincial outcrop.
I can see that two camps will quickly form.
Those that will support the project will become swept-up in the glamor of the hotel business and envision themselves impressing guests as they sweep through an impressive chandaliered hotel lobby. Like most people, they assume that tourism is an easily understood one-dimensional business that provides great streams of income. They blindly assume the mantra, "build it and they will come" and believe this alone will attract hoards of tourists that were eager to visit before, if only the city had such an impressive facility.
A portion of these supporters will also put their money where their mouth is and eagerly fondle the hotel development's prospectus that will make no promises beyond a locked-in modest return for the first 2-years. The graphs of potential returns printed on glossy paper will presumptuously elevate skyward and will attract cheap finance for the development company from local Ma and Pa "investors.".
The hotel will attract a major international brand that will manage the business of the hotel and this will be seen as vindication that the development will be an outstanding success. The major players - the big names, Sheraton and the like - are in fact awake to the harsh realities of abysmal ROI from hotel ownership. Consequently they no longer own hotels and have become franchise operations that rent their name, offering a pooled marketing service and clipping the actual hapless hotel owners ticket for a piece of their turnover.
The other camp that will form will be the busybody social-minded folk that believe they have a collective right to impose restrictions and rules upon the productive. Dunedin will have its fair share of socialist cardigan-wearing, academic non-producers that will be earnestly forming committees against the development. The glass and aluminum facade of the proposed hotel will be like red-rag-to-a-bull to these hand-wringers that will be earnestly clinging-on to the concept that all development should be centrally planned and in keeping with Dunedin's old-world charm.
After the stadium blowout, it will be interesting to learn if the cash-strapped city council will be supportive and offer any enticements (ie corporate welfare).
The resource consent process, the fawning and the howling from interest groups will be interesting to follow.
While the Banks/Dot.com saga continues, the real story that has captured my attention is....the reaction to the first television screening of a NZ's mockumentary, The GC - A contrived brain-dead glimpse into the egotistical lives of tatted-up, gangsta Maori Australians (Mozzies) living on the Gold Coast.
On behalf of NZ taxpayers, NZ On Air generously handed over $420,000 to assist the show's production.
The howling that has ensued has been highly amusing and commentators have formed two distinct camps. The first camp take a "positive" view and believe the television series has its place - they either enjoy switching off their brains and watching eye-candy or celebrate the fact that young Maori are being portrayed as "successful" by not appearing on Crimewatch. The other camp have quickly written off the series as trashy and an embarrassment, but want to see taxpayer funds directed into more high-brow television production.
As usual I have formed my own camp. My observation is that love-it-or-hate-it, The GC is a successful show (assuming that the initial high viewer ratings continue). We get what we deserve and the TV3 viewer stats tell us that a hard-core of Kiwis enjoy to gazing at the contrived lives of narcissistic wannabes.
As the show appears to be successful, was the decision to provide corporate welfare justified? Er..no.
In fact NZ on Air should be disbanded immediately. Why should a parental NZ on Air board dictate and distribute welfare to producers of "a colourful range of local television, radio, music and new media content to extend choices for New Zealand audiences?"
But would have The GC been produced without taxpayer funding? Absolutely!. The well-proven formula that appeals to the lowest common denominator appears to work in the marketplace. However, success is not guaranteed as the the market will dictate that there is a limit to these type of shows.
If we don't fund it, will we just get an endless array trash media...I don't think so.
Instead of the producers of all types of media spending time and resource lobbying to tap into other-people's-money, maybe they should focus on what the rest of us do - stand up on their own feet and let the market decide.
The type of media consumers view is rapidly changing and a conveyor belt of talented folk have now got access to cost effective platforms that allow them to showcase their passion. It is also possible to expose your media project idea to a wide range of people and crowd source funding from willing buyers.
...Like this guy, that is creating a multi-media project on The Motels of Route 66. Luckily, America doesn't appear to have a government broadcast funding agency that is stifling the market.
Are you a motel finding financial times tough? Are you looking for an innovative way to get more "bums-on-beds?"
You may be inspired by a quirky x-Brit that operates The Fawlty Towers Motel in Cocoa Beach, Florida that has come up with a plan to improve the bottom line of his rapidly declining motel business.
From today, the motel plans to fill its numerous vacant rooms with naked patrons in a last gasp effort to defer permanently closing the doors after years of declining trade.
The decision to "promote family oriented nudism" is to set the establishment apart from the increasing competition from larger chain hotels.
Thankfully, the motel owners will remain clothed, however their guests may go nude as long as they remained within the confines of the motel.
For some accommodation providers, the iconic TV series Fawlty Towers is a series of real-life snapshots of dealing with ungrateful and awkward customers.
Life would be so much easier without customers. You could spend your life pottering around without cleaning up after them and answering repetitive, inane questions...
