We have had a lot of fun with our company rep guests at the motel this week with their numerous tongue-in-cheek requests to put booze and pornographic movies on their motel accounts.
Unlike the folk at the Beehive that run the country, the company reps that regularly stay with us seem to be capable of accounting for their company credit card expenses and paying for personal items by their own means. They know that if they slip up and are caught out fiddling expenses they would be out of a job - no question.
The ongoing ministerial credit cards saga is a gift that keeps on giving and we are loving the coverage of the Chris Carter fiasco.
Check out the prissy meltdown of a minister with an overinflated sense of entitlement that refuses to front-up and apoligise for inappropriate spending on his ministerial credit card. This is great coverage that speaks volumes about the character of the man and should prove to be a YouTube hit!
For many years the motel industry has outsourced a substantial chunk of its advertising budget to Jasons Travel Media in print and latterly web media. So it is with a vested interest we see that Jasons have announced their 12-months financial results to 31 March 2010.
Although the headlines proclaim that Jasons took a profit hit with net profit falling by 31% to $553,000, we note that revenue has increased 4.2% to $14.6 million in a relatively competitive and tough market.
Interestingly the decrease in profitability has been blamed on reduced advertising by customers in the 2009/10 local guides and continued losses in Australia.
So what of the future? Jasons chairman Geoff Burns comments:
"The company is expecting stable performance in revenues, cash flow and profitability in 2010-11. An updated forecast will be presented at the annual meeting on July 28th. This will include considerably enhanced online plans for Jasons.com, restructure of the company’s business model in Australia and progress on the core print product sales."
Dead tree marketing is not sexy or trendy, however the Jasons Motels, Apartments and Motor Lodges Directory is still an important marketing tool for the motel industry. There seems to be no debate that marketing is moving more online, however there is still a substantial investment by the New Zealand travel industry in effective paper based marketing collateral.
The internet is space where travel media companies will need to offer more innovative solutions and clip the ticket if they are to survive. We look forward to finding out what the "considerably enhanced online plans for Jasons.com" will be.
I have had a few people comment on the advertising that has crept onto "Motella."
We get the odd request from companies wishing to advertise on our blog - some we run with, others we don't.
More lofty blogs than ours have a clean, commercial free canvas, however we have a few click-able adds scattered about our blog that are mixture of paid adverts from companies we like dealing with and content from Google Adsense that earns us revenue per click.
Hey, we make no apologies for our rampant commercialism. We are unashamedly traders and still get an adrenalin rush whenever we make a sale - so we encourage you to randomly click away at our advert links after reading our words of wisdom!
We were interested to learn of a motel lease for sale that is being promoted via the web, including various social networks and an Adwords campaign. We have placed the following graphic on our blog's sidebar to assist with the on-line marketing efforts. We encourage you to click on it to check it out:
Disclaimer: Please do not be perturbed that the writer of this blog has a financial interest in the above property;-)
We are all having fun with the revelations of what we have always known - Politicians are swept up in their own self-importance and false sense of entitlement with the folk from red team being the most inflicted.
We always thought Labour MP Shane Jones was a bit of a tosser and although his indiscretions are by no means the worst of a bad bunch, his habit of watching pornographic movies while staying at hotels and booking them up on his ministerial credit card is providing the most entertainment.
He's a collection of some of the cartoons that have been rightly lampooning Shane "Tugger" Jones and his ilk:
One good thing about recessionary times is that it gives businesses time to navel gaze and reassess. Hard fiscal times can bring about financial clarity with businesses spending more time meticulously analyzing all outgoings and considering all possible ways to increase efficiencies.
Advertising appears to be one expenditure that moteliers have applied the blowtorch to recently.
We have had a lot of feedback from fellow moteliers that are reducing print advertising and investing more into web-based marketing. Fair enough. However, many moteliers feel that the two main travel media companies are penalizing those that are reducing their ad size in the accommodation guides in favour of increasing their online investment.
There appears to be three main reoccurring gripes.
The “combo” print/internet deals offered by the travel media companies in their advertising pricing matrix are not flexible enough. ie: The level of print advertising is often directly tied in with the level of internet exposure.
The advertising pricing matrix is structured so that a reduction of print advertising size will yield minimal cost savings.
One travel media company insists on a template requirement for advertisers opting for the quarter page directory option.
Moteliers are usually shy and retiring folk that often struggle to articulate their emotions. Not so with one motelier that was so incensed with one particular travel media company that they invested time away from the rigors of motel-life to write and send us the following wee ditty:
That advertising company that rhymes with KK Says you can only do your ads our way When asked "can we change the format" They say, No you can't do that!" But of course we still want you to pay!
That advertising company that rhymes with KK Its CEO very big on innovation and having a say All that big talk falls down flat, When asked to change a format "No, No they all say, we've always done it this way!"
In these times of high tech printing When poor old moteliers are scrimping "Spend up more they say And then you can have it your way" But our way or your way, we'll still make you pay.
When we want to change our ad size But you'll change it our way they advise First you'll have to pay Then you'll do it our way Now is that any surprise
With Grab a Seat offering $19 flights you wouldn't mind picking up the tab by using your own personal credit card ;-)
Air New Zealand's marketing team has been producing some excellent collateral for some time now and appear to be making the best use of on-line media of any travel company in NZ.
The latest accommodation survey results for April have been released today by Statistics New Zealand.
Most motel operators dread entering the quieter winter months and it looks like April's trade hasn't provided any positive signs to alleviate fears.
Overall, total guest nights in April 2010 were up 1 percent compared with April 2009. In isolation, this is positive news with the first four months of the year all recording increases in guest nights.
The South Island continues to out perform the North Island by achieving a 4 percent gain in guest nights, compared to the North Island's 1 percent decrease.
Four of the 12 regions recorded more guest nights in April 2010 than in April 2009. The regions showing the largest increases were:
Otago, up 8 percent
Auckland, up 6 percent
Canterbury, up 4 percent
Southland, 4 percent.
The regions showing decreases were:
Waikato, down 8 percent
Wellington, down 7 percent.
International visitor guest nights in April 2010 increased by 2 percent compared with April 2009.
Domestic guest nights increased by less than 1 percent in April 2010 compared with April 2009.
Probably the most telling of statistic in April's accommodation survey was the significant movement of guest night distribution with hotels scalping trade from all other sectors:
Hotels, up 7 percent
Backpackers, down 5 percent
Holiday parks, down 2 percent
Motels, down 1 percent.
In April 2010, hotels had the largest share of total guest nights (34 percent), followed by motels (32 percent).
Excluding holiday parks, the occupancy rate in April 2010 was 50 percent, compared with 51 percent in April 2009.
Motel operators need to console themselves with a long term optimistic view with the common catchphrase: "just one last tough winter."
While many motel operators will be focusing on getting through over the cooler months, there is a burning question that remains unaddressed. The hotel sector continues to take market share from the motel sector - Why is that?
We predict that the introduction of new accommodation guest feedback platforms will cause intense debate and stir up the New Zealand motel industry over the next 12-months.
The opportunity for guests to provide instant online feedback on their accommodation stay at a motel is about to dramatically increase.
TripAdvisor.com is the originator of on-line guest reviews and is already very popular being second only to airnz.co.nz as the most visited travel website in New Zealand. Kiwi-owned OTAs Ezibed.com and Travelbug have been quietly collecting a vast database of guest rating/reviews for some time.
Both AA Travel and Jasons Travel Media's introduction of guest review platforms will be many moteliers first exposure to the concept of online guest feedback. There is no doubt that travellers are willing to participate in adding guest reviews and make accommodation decisions based on the reviews of others. It would seem to be an obvious pathway for AA and Jasons to follow.
We are sure that this will become a hit with travellers that use both AA and Jasons as a major gateway to research and book motel accommodation on-line. Acceptance and apparent demand for guest reviews from the end user is all very well, but how will the motel sector view the concept of guests posting instant online accommodation reviews? Will moteliers feel threatened and will they understand the rationale behind social networking?
We will be interested to witness how Jasons and AA will be selling the guest review concept to the motel sector. This will be a daunting challenge - along the same lines that it will be a challenge for the Nats to sway the New Zealand public to warm to public asset sales. Unfortunately opinion is not often based on what is good for you - maybe we are being too cynical;-)
In our humble opinion, we believe that use of guest reviews in the motel sector is extremely positive and well overdue. Qualmark NZ have plateaued and have had little effect advancing quality and customer service within the motel sector for many years. We believe that the widespread use and acceptance of guest reviews will provide a new vibrant, dynamic edge. This will rattle the cage of the motel sector and force new thinking that will be driven by guest wants and demands.
Shane "Tugger" Jones has told reporters that he was not a "sex fiend" but got in the habit while he was away.
As the media rifles through boxes of MP's expenses to try and find further titivating purchases, we have spent many hours trying to answer the question on everyone's lips - what actual movies did Shane "Tugger" Jones watch behind closed curtains in darkened hotel rooms?
Look no further dear readers! We have trawled through the depths of our contacts and we can now reveal the top 10 adult movies that are the most popular with hotel on-demand movie suppliers.
In the interests of investigative journalism we have downloaded and watched all of the following movies. Although weak with exhaustion, you will be delighted to note that we have also managed to provide a synopsis of each movie:
1. Prime Cuts
Massive gorgeous tits and ass attached to the sexiest nymphs around. Oral, anal and more! They’re primed and ready for sex.
2. Homegrown Video
Winner of 2007 Best Amateur Series Award. Real homemade video with lots of voyeuristic sex that is incredibly arousing.
3. MILF Maids
Plunging neckline gives you a peek. Tight skirts tells you she’s still a hottie. Suburbia sex was never like this. Horny moms show that once the kids are off to school mommie gets off too.
4. All My Horny Neighbors
What a lucky stiff I am. Every one of my sexy neighbors needs constant servicing. Sara across the way, Velicity down the street… They all love to get screwed.
5. Pirates of the Bahookey! Anal Fever
Captain Jack’s back and searching for ass. Jack loves big ass.
6. Slutty Older Women
If your fantasy is screwing an older woman, or if you just like to see women really enjoying sex, this is the video for you.
7. AC/DC Sex
Beyond Bi-sexual, it’s all sexual. Every scene has a threesome. Many with two guys and a girl doing it with all their partners. A mix of gay and hetero sex.
8. Ultimate Threesome
Every scene has one lucky guy on two hot and horny bodies.
9. Redbone Queens (Super Sexed!)
Here’s all the 411, hot, light skinned redbone beauties, doing the nasty, three ways, oral, lezzie, you name these redbones do it.
10. Hustler’s Soccer Moms
Only Hustler can bring you real soccer moms who like to get their fill of hot young men.
Phew! So there we have it...
Most major hotels seem to offer adult pay movies. Why do they do this? Simply, because their guests demand it AND it generates huge profits! It has been reported that up to 50% of the hotel guests purchase the material and it is estimated that between 70 -80% of the hotel's in-room profit come from adult movie viewing.
The hotel industry's dirty little secret is that guest adult movie purchases easily outstrip profits from those pesky overpriced mini-bars...
