The Green Police

As a Motella exclusive we can reveal for the first time the training video that has inspired legions of earnest Qualmark inspectors to go forth and impose an environmental mantra on unsuspecting accommodation providers:


Hat tip: No Minister

The Hotel In The Sky

Moteliers that have invested in the concept of offering static guest rooms in single level sausage shaped blocks may be left behind if the latest vision for future accommodation takes off.

Design and innovation company, Seymourpowell has come up with a "hotel in the sky" concept they have called, Aircruise. They propose that a giant, vertical airship powered by natural energy will carry travellers in style and luxury.

We often wonder where you can sign on to become part of a working party that comes up with this wacky stuff!




Source: Click HERE

Quicky Motels To Be Taxed More

The innovation and lengths that bureaucrats will go to in order to extract tax has no bounds.

With a reduction of the corporate income tax rate and income tax exemptions for minimum wage workers in Manila, The Bureau of Internal Revenue has been thinking outside the square and are targeting motels to provide additional income streams.

Motels in Manila not only pay income tax but are also charged a value-added tax based on 1.5% of their daily occupancy rate.

It seems that The Bureau of Internal Revenue are not satisfied that the motels are paying their due. They claim that many motel guest rooms have high daily turnover rates due to "trysting lovers" that only stay for a few hours and are not being accounted for in daily occupancy rates.

In order to patch up this anomaly, it is proposed that the value-added tax could be raised to 2-3% in time for Valentines Day.

If this is not accepted, other taxation schemes may be considered in Manila that could  include counting the number of towels and bedsheets used in motels on a daily basis!

Is the Recession For Tourism Over?

A great discussion topic over at the Tourism Industry Blog: 

We have seen some positive statistics released from Tourism New Zealand on Friday in their article “Optimism Up As Record Arrivals Kick-Start Summer” that show arrivals into New Zealand for December 2009 we up nearly 6% over December 2008 with our Australian VFR market contributing considerably towards that and even arrivals from the US market increased by over 11%.
There are mixed comments from the regions as to whether tourism operators have benefited, in this NZ Herald article numbers are still reported as “patchy” in the Auckland Region but a successful summer for tourism in Northland.

Do these numbers indicate we are out of the recession for the tourism industry?  

Read more....

Lisa Lewis Checks-out

Lisa Lewis is a friend of the Motella Blog, a perennial user of motels AND has our support for her nomination in the 2010 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award. 

We were looking forward to Lisa competing toe-to-toe with "mainstream" business woman nominees, however it has today been reported that she has sadly missed the cut.

We have yet to ascertain if any of the five successful finalists regularly use motels while pursuing their respective business careers?

Why tangi Day?

Are we the only ones feeling a tinge of cultural cringe?

Stolen from: Crusader Rabbit

Telephone Answering Machine Message

One of our more innovative readers sent us the following telephone voice message that was allegedly used at Maroochydore High School in Queensland.

Hmmm...maybe the authenticity could be somewhat dubious, however it has been suggested that this could be easily amended for a motel telephone answering message:

Indroducing The Tourism Industry Blog

While we are still busy with the day job, why not head over to a new blog that has amalgamated various commentary from the New Zealand tourism industry.

Our virtual friend, Michelle Ackers of ADEPT Marketing has launched a new blog, www.tourismindustryblog.co.nz that publishes ongoing online articles written by a variety of tourism industry contributors that provides an ideal platform for collective knowledge and discussion.

I'll see you over there soon...

The Joy Of Travel

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."
  - Buddha  

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."
  - Maya Angelou 

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.”
 - Samuel Johnson

 

Only goes to prove that cultures worlds apart can seemingly have some things in common;-)

 

We're back!

We are finally back at the motel and busy catching up...

Taking a regular break in this game is necessary for the sanity, however it takes a lot of planning before and some time after to attend to matters neatly piled up by our motel minders.

We often joke to our minders as we leave on holiday about the disasters that they may have to endure. Previously, while looking after our motel  they have experienced a major earthquake, storms that closed roads, a burst pipe that flooded unit, a commercial dryer imploding and even the threat of tsunamis. Luckily, the only disaster that occurred while we were away was a small fire in one of our units. One of our first jobs was to get the unit back into operation and prepare an insurance claim. I think the only disaster left that our hapless minders may have yet to contend with while looking after our motel is a plague of locusts. Watch this space!

Our household has lost the boisterous activities of my son, as he has been deposited back at his boarding school. My daughter has started intermediate school and seems to have been lucky by being assigned a good teacher in the lottery that is state education.

With the return of school, the rhythm of the motel has changed. This is the most popular month for our kiwi comfortable retirees that launch their highly polished Honda Civics on an impromptu road trip. Couples from overseas continue to travel and we welcome back with open arms our core rep market.

I have a feeling it's gonna be a great year!