OTA Mateship?

We received the following communication from a "Christchurch Motel."

"We have a Christchurch Motel

Check-in.com.au have called today to biff us off their website booking page as "the cancellations that you are getting are costing us money."

Yep, people are canceling their motel bookings in droves which will hit us huge in the coming months. We need more advertising, not less. Cancellations are part and parcel of the booking system that they should expect.

Thanks for your support NOT Check-in.co.au during our hardest times.."

I would be very disappointed if an Aussie OTA was welshing on some Trans Tasman mateship with their alleged offhand treatment of a Christchurch motel. 

C'mon Check-in.com.au this is not a good look. What's your side of the story?

Out of the mouths of babes

I had an extremely positive consumer experience in the weekend. They are becoming exceedingly rare so bear with me...

It was Sunday morning and I suddenly realised that after the distraction of a busy week I hadn't brought a gift for my wee nephew's christening. I have a habit of leaving things to the last moment and tend to derive some sort of perverse pleasure from the adrenalin rush of urgency.

The christening was to kick off in half an hour - so what to do?

I suddenly had an inspired idea that I would purchase a photography portrait gift voucher and started thumbing my way through the Yellow Pages for inspiration. The adverts included photographers that traded from bricks and mortar on the high street, however it was 9.30am on a Sunday, so most would have been closed or a few would open from 10am.

I then came across the name of a photographer that I recognised as a Facebook friend. He did not trade from a static storefront and his advert simply had a website address and a cell phone number. I didn't have time to browse the website so I was grateful that the cellphone number was an instant hotlink to who I wanted to speak to.

After a few rings and cursory introduction I was able to select a photography option and within minutes a PayPal invoice and the gift voucher magically appeared in my email in-box as promised.

After I electronically paid the PayPal invoice by credit card and printed the gift voucher I was sorted!

So what can we learn from this?

• It is really important for businesses to be always accessible to their customers. Those that snooze will lose.
• Technology is great, however perceived problems can be quickly overcome person to person and the human touch is still important. Talking to the business owner (or at least someone that knows what they are talking about that can make instant decisions) is empowering.
• Social media is a great introduction, however my end lead was via traditional paper-based media (Yellow Pages). 
• While a customer is hot it is important for businesses to have the tools to instantly extract money from them. PayPal was used in this case as an effective method.
• Exceed expectations with effective use of technology.
• Make it simple!

Probably one of the most important aspects that struck me about this simple transaction was that business owners can gain a lot by learning how the younger generation operate - This accomplished photographer was 15 years old...

Wotif.com Trading Results

With many switched-on Kiwi accommodation providers successfully using Wotif.com as a sales channel, it is of interest that Wotif  have released their half-year results to December 2010.

Outside the business generated from Kiwi accommodation provider's chosen booking engine on their own corporate website, Wotif.com continues to deliver more business than any other Online Travel Agent (OTA). Wotif.com's successful formula of codifying accommodation options in a simple comparative one page grid system has proven to be the most consumer friendly and is often copied by other OTAs. 

Aussie-owned Wotif's impressive growth over successive years appears to have waned with an 8% comparative profit fall in the most recent six months reporting period. This has been attributed to a 4.8% drop in room night sales and increased expenditure in advertising that included a television advertising campaign. 

In challenging economic times, Wotif has retained its number one position as Australasia's leading OTA by maintaining its accommodation market share with a high consumer awareness and increasing accommodation suppliers by 9 percent.

In this reporting period, Wotif.com extended its consumer bookable window from 3 to 6-months and it is noted that this has only marginally stretched the average booking lead-time from 13.45 to 13.76 days. The average nights booked has dipped slightly from 1.96 to 1.91 nights, however it is pleasing that average room-rates have increased by 5.9 percent.

Qualifying pedestrian trading results, Wotif Chief executive Robbie Cooke has been reported making the following comments:

"...several key Australian holiday destinations remained soft, meaning that domestic holidays were "great value propositions."
He said more people were "reawakening to the quality and variety of Australian leisure destinations, which peculiarly took an American, Oprah, to highlight to us".
Last year, he said, many consumers travelled overseas because of the high Australian dollar.
But falling consumer sentiment suggested there were early signs that more people were now choosing to take a holiday break at home.
However, the floods in Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria had dampened many consumers' appetite for domestic holidays."

Although Wotif do not separate Australian and New Zealand trading, we would guess that the challenges and trends are very similar between markets.

We wonder what effect the earthquake in Christchurch will have on the psychology of Kiwi business travellers and holidaymakers?

Wotif.com Half Year Results to December 2010

To Our Christchuch Moteliers

I have just returned home from Wellington where the cruel irony of the latest Christchuch quake has dominated a planned gathering with fellow moteliers.

Our thoughts are with those brave Christchurch moteliers that are battling-on with their businesses in an extreme environment.

Christchurch moteliers have prioritised cleaning-up the front-of-house in order to continue trade, while disorder reigns in their own homes. While most businesses remain deserted,  moteliers carry-on doing what comes naturally; hosting guests while offering support and empathy.

There are challenges of operating a motel with no water, some still have no electricity and provisions are now difficult to obtain, however moteliers are continuing to host guests to the best of their ability. 

There is the added stress to endure of managing the changing landscape of their booking sheets with future reservations made before the earthquake now vague promises that need to be reassessed.

While there is a calm professionalism in dealing with guests front-of-house, we can appreciate that behind the scenes away from the public gaze, moteliers are trying to restore order in their own homes, comfort family and minimise their own personal trauma.

Our thoughts are with you...

Motel Pranks

Here's a heads-up for accommodation providers that should insist that telephone callers wishing to be connected to a room number be asked to identify the occupants by name before transferring the call.

Motels and their guests can be the unfortunate victims of pranks from time to time and the consequences can be extreme. 

We have posted before about a pranks at motels that are reported from time to time, particularly in the United States. The MO of the prank is simple. A prankster telephones a motel and asks to speak to a guest by a random room number and after being connected, the mayhem begins...

Once a mischievous caller is connected to an unsuspecting motel guest, a popular prank is claiming that there is a gas leak and instructs that the windows be smashed immediately. 

Another variant involves the prankster instructing a guest to smash through a wall in their guest room to free a small person trapped next door.

Other reported cases involve a caller urging a guest to trip the motel sprinkler system that causes thousands of dollars worth of damage. One random call convinced one hotel guest to drive a truck through a hotel lobby in order to turn off a fire alarm. 

An epic-prank that is probably the most outrageous, convinced a guest staying at a Motel 6 in Texas to ingest his own urine and stool samples in order to avoid contracting the H1N1 flu virus. 

On the face of it, the chances of a stranger convincing random motel guests to perform ridiculous and outrageous acts would appear to be fairly slim. However as most moteliers can probably attest to; the public ain't getting any smarter.

"Got Your Tickets Yet?"

Titewhai Harawira: RWC a chance to protest treatment of Maori

The 2011 Dirtiest Hotels

The Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels that are based on TripAdvisor traveller reviews is perhaps the most widely distributed and eagerly awaited accommodation survey. 

 

The hunger of a voyeuristic public gives TripAdvisor some excellent brand exposure, however not everyone is happy about TripAdvisor using its extensive database to expose unsavory accommodation. UK company KwikChex that offers businesses online reputation management tools have been making noises about legal action against TripAdvisor on behalf of its hundreds of hotel clients for some time.

 

KwikChex's main beef seems to be with negative customer reviews appearing on TripAdvisor that are claimed to be untrue, damaging or legally unsubstantiated however they are also not happy with the annual Dirtiest Hotels survey. 

 

It is difficult to evaluate if KwikChex have a legal case or have the necessary resources to take on Expedia owned TripAdvisor. It has to be kept in mind that KwikChex by going public with an elongated threat of litigation is gaining valuable publicity with a sympathetic group of accommodation providers and are highlighting their own services.

 

Overall we reckon that the exposure to the light of less-than-satisfactory accommodation options takes away the mystery and in fact exposes that the majority of accommodation providers offer enriching experiences for the travelling public.

 

Sometimes you need to expose the extremes in order to appreciate the overwhelming positives. And besides, all accommodation options that gained all top 10 positions in this survey are a world away from the array of fantastic accommodation options available in Kiwiland. 

 

To maximise exposure, this year, TripAdvisor have ranked lists of the top-10 dirtiest hotels according to region:

• Asia
• Europe
• India
• United States

Napier Motels Targeted

 

Unfortunately I missed the hidden camera segment on TV3's entertainment/consumer program, Target that aired earlier this week featuring Napier motels.

I usually find Target excruciatingly brain-dead and boring. It's one of many formula reality TV programs, dumbed down into easy digestible chunks so as not to be too taxing on the "average" viewer. The motel industry is one of Target's perennial favorite haunts and I only endure these regular segments due to my motel industry fetish.

To view this week's episode: Click HERE 

In this week's episode, the usual MO ensued with Target wielding a covert camera checking-in to four separate motels and evaluating;  guest facilities, room amenities/condition, fire evacuation signs, smoke detectors, room keys and window latches before unleashing the much anticipated shock horror part of the show that involves identifying nasty bacteria with swabs and the obligatory black light. 

We see that Napier Motel Association President Tim Stephens issued a timely press release that has attempted to put a positive spin on Napier motels starring on Target. Usually any protest attempt would get little public sympathy and would be counterproductive however the press release seems to have been a positive therapeutic exercise for Napier's moteliers without causing further collateral damage.

This ambush, reality TV style can be most upsetting to moteliers. Although we could question some of Target's methods, there is simply no defence for finding less than high cleaning standards in the motels that are featured.

Overall the Napier motels featured fared reasonably well, however shows like Target will never promote the motel industry and it is unfortunate that long-lasting niggling doubts of the general motel product will be embedded with some consumers.

So what was the biggest misdemeanor that was uncovered in a motel? 

I am a fan of silly signs in motels and took special note of the following tacky sign that made an appearance on Target. We are sorry to say that similar signs make a regular appearance in motels, often affixed with blue-tack. This Napier property's sign does get some bonus points for font selection and use of lamination, however we believe that this is one of many signs that menopausal moteliers should desist from using immediately! 

Napier moteliers can now rest easy, unlike the rest of the motel fraternity throughout the country that are dreading the day when Target decides to visit their region and books-in for the night;-)

Motel Gold!

Heard an interesting story today....A motelier was recently shooting the breeze with one of his worldly jet-setting guests and the conversation turned to motorcycles. The guest mentioned that he owned a couple of Honda Gold Wing motorcycles and the friendly motelier responded that he was a huge fan of those gaudy "bigger-is-better" American built motorcycles and had always dreamed of owning one.

Through our extensive network we have heard that a gobsmacked motelier has today received a special gift that was mysteriously left on his motel driveway - One bright red 6-cylinder, 1500cc Honda Gold Wing accompanied with signed change of ownership papers.

The motelier is reported to be ecstatic with his new prize parked outside his motel reception (below)... his wife was unable to be reached for comment!

Motels feeling the pinch?

The article in the Herald on Sunday "Motels feel pinch" was a lightweight ring-around of various moteliers following November's stats that revealed a continuing decline in guest nights compared to the hotel sector. 

While there are many good examples of strong motel businesses that are well positioned, have reinvested and are well run; as a collective we're not doing so good. It's beyond question that there has been a short term blip in consumer demand for motels and guests seem to looking elsewhere. 

The Herald on Sunday article faithfully reported a clutch of reasons as to why the motel sector appears to be losing market share that included discounting from other accommodation sectors, competition from holiday home sites such as bookabach.co.nz and the perennial issue of commercial versus non-commercial rated accommodation.

One property owner seemed to believe that a long term downturn in trade was inevitable and extolled the lifestyle benefits of the motel sector. 

The Motel Association was quick to blame those devious accommodation players in the market place that operate accommodation businesses from residential rated properties. We agree that this is an anomaly, however this is a separate issue that requires joining the chorus of valid business groups that advocate a rating system that is applied according to use rather than perceived ability to pay. This includes the gradual removal of differentials applied between residential and commercial property...

Getting back on track, Jasons CEO Matthew Mayne said that "hotels could not compete with the owner-operator service that motels provided, but getting customers through the door was the trick." And that's the rub. We reckon that the motel product is still a fantastic and relevant product. Motels are easily accessible, their hosts go that little bit further with friendly personalised service, motels offer tremendous value and you can park right outside! The flat management structure of a motivated Ma and Pa that are running a business (and not there for the "lifestyle") should be unbeatable.

We respect that it is difficult to communicate with the MSM, so why is the motel sector really losing market share?

The reasons are numerous, however we reckon that they can be capsulated under two main headings that require urgent attention:

The quality of the motel product and the acumen of its operators.

So instead of witch-hunting other accommodation sectors and blaming others, maybe the motel sector should be looking closely in the mirror where the solution to their collective woes will be reflected back at them.