The Motel Industry Has No Sick Leave

For several weeks I have been downing a cocktail of pills to try and avoid the flu. I was feeling fairly cocky for a while, but inevitably it has finally gotten to me.

In the motel industry the front office is a stage. You smile, offer empathy are positive and always hospitable. Behind the scenes away from our audience is the only place where moteliers can let their guard down and feel sick between gigs.

Flicking on the hospitality switch at each ring of the bell has gotten a little bit more difficult.

The Motel Association Take Another Jump To The Left?

Part of the Holidays Act Review will be to investigate trading annual leave for cash at the employee's request. This would mean employees would be entitled to choose to take payment as opposed to taking the fourth week off.

For business owners you would think that the support for this proposal that gives increased flexibility and choice in the workplace would be a no-brainer. The proposal is after all supported by mainstream business groups led by Business New Zealand.

So what is the position of The Motel Association (MANZ)?

Well, MANZ that claims to represent 1000 motel businesses is joining the Council of Trade Unions and Socialist Workers Party of New Zealand in their opposition to this proposal.

Quite frankly we are dumbfounded and saddened with a further example of woolly thinking by MANZ.

Thank goodness for Fergus Brown, head of the Holiday Park Association of New Zealand that was able to speak some common sense on this issue.

WILL HINE in Queenstown
The Southland Times

08/06/2009

Leave changes could hurt motel industry - MANZ

Moteliers could lose business if workers are allowed to take money from employers in lieu of annual leave, the head of the Motel Association of New Zealand says.

The Government is considering amending the Holidays Act to permit workers to trade annual leave for cash.

Association chief executive Michael Baines said 72 per cent of moteliers' business came from domestic holidaymakers.

"If you take away those people's opportunity to take holidays, then you take away our potential market. That could create problems."

The association represents about 1000 motels, or 70 per cent, of those operating in New Zealand, Mr Baines said.

"We've already got too many beds and not enough customers. If we have fewer people taking holidays, it's going to get a lot tougher."

But Holiday Park Association of New Zealand chief executive Fergus Brown said he supported the legislation review.

The association represents about 300, or 75 per cent, of New Zealand holiday parks.

Allowing workers to cash in leave would enable Kiwi families to finance their holidays, Mr Brown said.
"If someone decides they want to give their family a holiday, they could trade back some leave, get the money and go on holiday."

A review could also benefit holiday park operators by helping them to manage the entitlements of seasonal workers, Mr Brown said.

A five-person working party overseeing the Holidays Act review is expected to report back to Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson in December.

Source: Click HERE

Best Bain Joke So Far?

The topic of conversation with guests at our motel has been all about the Bain trial. Everybody seems to have an entrenched opinion!

I guess like you, we have been all getting the obligatory txt and email jokes, however in our opinion this has been the best so far:

Hat tip: WhaleOil

Is A Shake-up At Tourism New Zealand Eminent?

Tourism New Zealand Chief, George Hickton appears on TV3 News and discusses the opening of TRENZ in Auckland this week, tourism arrivals to date and the potential for the summer season ahead. Interestingly Hickton is still loyal to the 100% Pure branding and hopes that it will stick around for at least another 10 years.

Watch the video HERE

The expensive mainstream media "Coke style" campaigns used by Tourism NZ that showcase our fantastic NZ landscapes and stirring NZ music are inspiring to local tourism operators, however the reach on a world stage and effectiveness to attract potential tourists is frustratingly limited.

Tourism NZ has recently entered the domain of social media with its mobile film studio that is a converted shipping container where tourists were able to send online postcards to friends and family via YouTube. Again, this initiative created great localised feel-good publicity as it toured throughout New Zealand, however it can be argued that the uploaded videos hardly caused a ripple in cyberspace.

After spending $600,000 on the YouTube campaign it was reported: "Viral marketing was new ground for the tourism marketing body, and chief executive George Hickton had no idea how to measure whether it worked."

In our predictions for 2009 post, we wrote that we expected to see a "freshening and reinvigorating" of the 100% Pure NZ. brand. We predicted that there will be a subtle move away from reliance on solely marketing natural landscapes.

As an industry, tourism is being crushed by publicly funded institutionalised bureaucracy that is out of proportion to the industry it is supposed to serve. The tourism industry is at risk of becoming too dependent on the productivity of others and needs to become more innovative and self reliant. Quite simply, in our opinion the New Zealand taxpayer is not getting an acceptable ROI for their tourism spend.

We predicted that there would be a necessary shakeup at Tourism NZ and in order for this to happen, Hickton needs to go. An industry insider has informed us that this will likely occur before the end of this year.

Watch this space.

Our One Is Bigger Than Your One

New Zealand's dream of becoming an iconic South Pacific destination for lycra lovers has been dealt a serious setback by a Johnny-come-lately announcement from Tasmania.

We are amused by the "vision" of Australian Premier, David Bartlett to build a 450km dedicated cycleway from Smithton to Hobart.

Hang on, haven't us Kiwis already announced that we were going to corner the snail-trail market?

Apparently Mr Bartlett has other ideas and believes that "Tasmania can become an iconic destination for cyclists." The shrewd little devil has used all the the usual qualifications to promote the project: climate change, health and wellbeing and tourism. Bugger!

The Australian Federal Government has $40 million set aside for cycling projects and further substantial funding can be raised by councils.

In the race as to who can spend more public money and build the most impressive cycleway, we appear to have an advantage.

The Fush n Chups blog respectfully points out that John Key’s one is longer than David Barlett’s. What is not clear at this stage though, is which one has the bigger width?

The Power of Social Networking

Being part of Generation X is not all it's cracked up to be. We are known as the "forgotten Generation." We are like the annoying middle child in the family stuck in no-man's land between the more favored older Baby Boomers and the younger Generation Y .

One of the trending bits of media doing the rounds of online social media at the moment appealed to me and probably many other Generation Xers that had to endure an era of 1980s music that was at best embarrassing. How could a man dressed in canary yellow, baggy parachute pants ever be cool!?!

A viral video that is promoting MC Hammer's entry into the reality show business has succeeded as an extremely successful promotion.

Picture a typical scene in a clothing store that is suddenly turned upside down by gatecrashing silly-pants wearing performers that have created a classic guerrilla advertising ambush.

You may not like MC Hammer or reality television, however by the power of social networking you now know that a new reality show is pending and you will now second glance any further mention in the mainstream media. God forbid, some of you may even watch it!

Air New Zealand Goes Viral

Good to see that Air New Zealand's "nothing to hide" ad campaign has gone viral.

To date over 1.7 million viewers on YouTube have enjoyed the body painted Air New Zealand staff doing their thing to Gin Wigmores misic track, under my skin:

AA Still Dominates Domestic Traffic for Travel Websites

AA still dominates, however the gaps seem to be narrowing in the race for Kiwi's favorite travel website.

Source: Click HERE

Wotif Founder Makes It To Rich List

One of the best parts about reading any new rich list is looking at the new members on the list.

Despite the dire state of the Australian economy – or perhaps because of it, given the cut-off for inclusion on Australia's BRW’s Rich 200 has fallen from $200 million to a mere $150 million.

There are some interesting new members of Australia’s wealthiest club including, Accountant Andrew Brice who was one of the seed investors in online travel company Wotif.com.

Wotif is proving to be one the best downturn-beaters on the Australian sharemarket – its shares are actually up 6 per cent in the last 12 months, against a 35 per cent fall in the broader market. Brice retains a big shareholding and joins the list with $170 million.

Good on ya mate!

Moteliers Welcome Holidays Act Review

Hopefully the government will legislate how and when moteliers can take a holiday ;-)

The Holidays Act review will be welcomed by moteliers.

Employment law was declared out of bounds early on in the recent Job Summit, so it is pleasing that as a first step, the Holidays Act is to be reviewed by the government.

The current Act was not written for real-world conditions of the motel and greater tourism industries. The one size fits all Act was focused on the assumption that all employees worked 9 to 5, had weekends off and took holidays in neat 7-day bundles.

The Holidays Act simply does not fit with the real-life variable demands of the motel industry. The Act is too complex and ambiguous. It is not flexible to cater for differing work arrangements and this has resulted in significant compliance costs for moteliers.

The terms of reference for the review include:

• the calculation of relevant daily pay
• trading annual leave for cash at the employee's request, and
• transferring the observance of public holidays
  

The Motel Association (MANZ) has had a proud history of fighting for it's members by fronting up to select Committees and making submissions on previous employment legislation. It will be interesting to follow if the association currently has the capacity to effectively lobby again.

"Motella" will be making our own submission.

The 5-member working group conducting the review has 2 obligatory union stooges. We hope that the other members have had enough experience with small business needs and can bring some balance to the group's final recommendations. We are nervously holding our breath!

The members are:

Paul Mackay has been Business NZ's Employment Relations Policy Manager since January 2006. He has significant experience of policy and legislature analysis in government, state owned enterprises and the private sector. In 2004, he developed and presented Carter Holt Harvey's submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee on the Holidays Amendment Bill.

Helen Kelly has been president of the NZCTU since 2007. Her responsibilities in that role include economic development, employment law, social partnership, ACC, pay and employment equity and climate change.

James Ritchie has been National Secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union since 2003. He has 25 years experience as a union official and is a member of the NZCTU National Affiliates Council. He served as Workers' chair on the Committee on Good Employment at the International Labour Organisation 2008 conference.

Philip Doak is Senior Legal Counsel to the Air New Zealand group of companies advising on all aspects of employment relations law. Air NZ has been involved in litigation in respect of the Holidays Act 2003, including in the Supreme Court. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Peter Kiely is Kiely Thompson Caisley's senior partner and has practised in employment law and industrial relations since 1980. He has legal and academic expertise on all aspects of the Holidays Act 2003, authoring ‘The Guide to Holidays and Leave' in 2006. In 1997, he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Employment Law at Victoria University of Wellington.

Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Press Release: Employers and Manufacturers Association Northern
3 June, 2009

Employers welcome Holidays Act review

The Holidays Act has been one the single biggest problems for employers and a thorough review is warmly welcomed, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association.

"The Act is based on antiquated work practices which assume people work 9-5 and take holidays in periods of one week," Mr Lowe said.

"Employers often find ways of allowing holidays that are fair to both employees and the business, even though they may not technically comply with the law.

"Ensuring the holidays law reflects the modern New Zealand workplace, and is easily understood and complied with, is a complex job.

"Addressing the problems of the Holidays Act is another major step towards making it attractive and easier for businesses to employ people.

"Each member of the review group is well qualified for the task."

Source: Click HERE