Thankfully I don't need to worry about this irksome phenomenon this year as I've been given an early Christmas present - my beloved In-Laws are sadly unable to make their annual pilgrimage to visit our motel to enjoy our fully catered hospitality over the festive season.
While I'm being spared, I would like to extend my sympathy to those that will be faced with the stampede of freeloading relatives over the stressful Christmas/New Year period.
As a motelier, I'm willing to help alleviate the pain of others ...
Motels should look at this time as a marketing opportunity by encouraging swelling households to outsource accommodation. Tourism promotion 101 is to encourage local communities to invite friends and family to stay with them. Often this foundation of tourism is overlooked by tourism bodies that ignore the "visiting friends and family" market by preferring to chase the glamor of overseas markets.
So my challenge to my fellow motelier brethren is to package an " In-laws Special" that includes a night's accommodation in a twin-bedded unit and a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine to help the occupants forget what a horrible choice their child made in marrying someone who would rather put them up at a motel over Christmas.
