Motel Owners Journal Volume 18

PP 324494/00039

Volume 18 No 1

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Mollymook Seascape Motel

The History of our Earliest Motels Online Travel Agents

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Contents

28

50

5 Message from the Publisher 7 Message from the Minister

41 Guest entertainment 42 OTA – Not just your partners or

for Trade & Investment

9 The Accommodation Association of Australia (AAoA)

16 Our earliest motels 26 Online travel agents 28 Motels – THE LITTLE GUY and how they can stand out

31 Bed Bugs: Tips & Tricks 34 Online bookings 36 Don’t be a sucker 38 NBN is coming SOON to you

frenemies, but also teachers

67 58 Ceramic and stone flooring care 59 Understanding commercial linen 62 Preserving lower back physiology for

a healthier cleaning industry 44 How else can we make a laundry pay 47 Save money on carpet and upholstery 67 Is your pool a hinderance or a highlight?

48 Common hotel plastics – The phase out begins!

71 Diving into efficiency in pool heating?

50 How to choose the right bedding 73 Product News partner for your hotel

52 Hospitality, sustainability, and you 54 Carpet encapsulation cleaning minimises carpet downtime

PP 324494/00039

Volume 18 No 1

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

56 Are Contract staff a waste of money?

Front Cover: The Mollymook Seascape motel

Mollymook Seascape Motel

The History of our Earliest Motels Online Travel Agents

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Advertising Sales

Adbourne PUBLISHING

PO Box 735, Belgrave, VIC 3160

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Melbourne: Neil Muir Ph: (03) 9758 1433 Fax: (03) 9758 1432 Email: neil@adbourne.com Adelaide: Robert Spowart PO Box 213, Summertown, SA 5141 Ph: 0488 390 039 Email: robert@adbourne.com

Production: Emily Wallis Tel: (03) 9758 1436 Email: production@adbourne.com Administration: Tarnia Hiosan Tel: (03) 9758 1436 Email: admin@adbourne.com

DISCLAIMER Adbourne Publishing cannot ensure that the advertisers appearing in The Motel Owners Journal comply absolutely with the Trades Practices Act and other consumer legislation. The responsibility is therefore on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisement(s) for publication. Adbourne Publishing reserves the right to refuse any advertisement without stating the reason. No responsibility is accepted for incorrect information contained in advertisements or editorial.

The editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or otherwise alter articles for publication. All original material produced in this magazine remains the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without authority. The views of the contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher.

E EW G N N RA

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Messages

Message

from the Publisher

Our earliest motels »» Story on page 16

W

elcome to this edition of Motel Owner.

We are thrilled to say an important milestone we reached last issue has been a success. For the first time, we launched Motel Owner online, boosting readership to a much bigger audience.

While it has been fantastic to welcome in thousands more readers, we are also pleased to hear good old hard copy still has a place in the hearts of so many readers. If you wish to receive hard copies, please email admin@adbourne.com with your postal address, and well gladly send you a copy.

Our friends at the Accommodation Association have again contributed to this journal. For more than fifty years, the association has protected its members, and worked with key government decisionmakers to advance the industry. Anyone who wishes to join as a member will be eligible for a range of benefits, including advice on matters including employment, award interpretations, wages and unfair dismissal. More information on how to join can be found in this issue.

Courses and workshops to help you and your business are also offered by HSMAI. The industry body’s details can also be found in this issue.

Elsewhere in this edition, we turn back the clock to Victoria’s first motel – the Oakleigh Motel. Simon Reeves shares his passion for our motel heritage in his article, which looks at some of the earliest establishments open to Australian travellers. Reeves, of Built Heritage Pty Ltd, had first written the article ten years ago, but he has recently updated it for today’s readers.

Is it time to rethink how we provide entertainment? As Judy Senn explains, it is becoming more common for guests to bring their own entertainment, but it’s the accommodation provider’s job to help them use it. This can be through combining Smart TVs with modern gadgets like Apple TV or Google Chromecast, so guests can play content through digital devices. This can, in fact, save you money on expensive and lengthy pay television subscriptions, but only if done right!

We also touch on online bookings, bed bugs and pool maintenance in this issue.

Whether online or in print, we hope you find this issue helpful for your business!

Regards Neil Muir

5

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Message from the Minister for Trade, Tourism & Investment

T

ourism is a thriving $136 billion industry that employs around one in 13 Australians and accounts for 10 per cent of our total exports. The benefits of tourism are spread broadly across the country with 43 cents in every tourism dollar being spent in regional Australia, which is where a lot of you operate as motel owners.

The industry is also well on the way to achieving the Tourism 2020 target of doubling overnight visitor spending to between $115 billion and $140 billion by 2020. This is great news for you as motel owners.

The Liberal-National Government recognises the important role you play within the industry and we’re committed to supporting and working with you across the country. Last financial-year the tourism accommodation sector contributed over $16.0 billion to total visitor spending, saw a 7 per cent increase in overnight stays and employment within the sector also grew by around 7 per cent.

These are strong figures, but we need to keep the momentum going and that’s why as a government we fully recognise the more international travellers we can attract to Australia, the more people that you will have staying in your hotel rooms, eating at your restaurants and contributing to your local economy.

We understand the important role targeted international tourism campaigns play at luring more tourists down under. For example our Dundee campaign is focused on attracting more American tourists to our shores and in recent months we launched our UnDiscover Campaign which looks to attract high-value travellers from South-East Asia to some of the lesser-known tourist destinations around Australia.

We also have an strong presence in our major markets such as China, who remains Australia’s most valuable market with visitation numbers reaching 1.3 million last financial year and visitor spending at a record $11.3 billion - representing 27 per cent of the international market. India is also now our fastest growing market and we are very much looking forward to having the Indian cricket team in town this summer and the opportunities this presents from a tourism perspective.

As the Federal Tourism Minister I’m keen to work with industry, including you as accommodation providers to continue to develop markets, to attract and convert interest into action so Australia remains a preferred international travel destination for international travellers. I’ll also continue to work closely with my state and territory counterparts to further strengthen our domestic tourism market, which is currently benefiting from Australia’s strong economic conditions.

Tourism is a major industry in many regional areas, where many of you operate.

Through the Building Better Regions Fund, the Liberal-National Government is giving regional communities the helping hand they need to seize on local tourism opportunities. With regional tourism and local jobs high on our agenda, regional Australia is set to share in $200 million for local infrastructure and communitybuilding projects with $45 million specifically committed to increase tourism and create local jobs. Over the last five years we’ve seen strong regional dispersal within our tourism industry and that’s why it’s important we have the infrastructure to support this into the future as this dispersal continues.

The Liberal-National Government is committed to the growth, competitiveness and success of Australia’s tourism industry and a thriving accommodation sector. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for you hard work SENATOR THE HON SIMON BIRMINGHAM Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate Senator for South Australia

7

AAoA News

The Comfortable Choice

Who is TECO?

8

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Message from the CEO,

Richard Munro One Step Closer on OTAs.

T

he number one issue affecting our members is the impact two big online travel agencies (OTAs) are having on their business. This was sourced from a survey of 6500 businesses that we talk to and the impact is profound.

The biggest issue we have is price parity or in simple terms, a business operator cannot advertise a room-rate on their own website which is lower than the room-rate listed on an OTA. The reason this is the case is in 2016, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) were told by the OTAs that noone would book with them if the price parity was banned. This single decision gave unprecedented powers to these two global behemoths to ramp up, advertise and drive a wedge between our guests and the businesses you run.

A lot has transpired since then and we are still waiting for the outcome of the ACCC’s latest investigation into this issue. It’s vital the competition regulator overturns what was a farcical decision that heavily favoured these offshore “wrecking balls” over compliant Australian businesses.

The Accommodation Association continues to strongly advocate for change. Occasionally a member will tell me we are being too harsh and the OTAs are doing a great job for their business,

which I accept. I will say, however, that we are simply fighting for your right as a business owner to make the decision, not have the decision made for you. I accept that if a business wants to run 100 per cent of their bookings via OTAs, then that is your decision, but conversely, you should have the right to set your own prices and be able to offer the lowest rate direct to your guests.

You might be aware that prominent Australian Dick Smith has mounted his own campaign which is encouraging consumers to book direct. It has struck a chord and following on from this, it is up to operators to convert the phone calls into bookings by offering exceptional customer service and a reward to guests for making contact by phone rather than clicking on to the OTAs and seeing large chunks of commission go offshore untaxed.

There is a lot more to come on this issue and rest assured, the Accommodation Association is fighting hard for your rights. The best way to support us is to become a member today. We are growing as an association as our industry moves to a tier one sector of the economy and your membership is the best signal to government that we have a credible voice which is worth listening to.

9

AAoA News

State Advisory Boards for the Accommodation Association The Accommodation Association has established State Advisory Boards (SAB), consisting of representatives from Accommodation Association member properties who have been nominated and appointed by the National Board of Directors. The Accommodation Association has established the SAB’s to strengthen our advocacy on a state level and to ensure that local state issues are more specifically addressed.

M

ost recently the NSW State Advisory Board was launched this month (November) by The Hon. Adam Marshall MP, Minister for Tourism and Major Events and Assistant Minister for Skills, and its members include: »» Chair - Mr Patrick Lonergan, Doma Group

»» Ms Monty Maguire, Quality Hotel Powerhouse Armidale »» Mr Patrick Cheok, Mantra Group »» Mr Scott Boyes, AccorHotels

»» Deputy Chair - Ms Marianne Ossovani, Elanor Investors Group

»» Mr Theo Whitmont, Kincumber Nautical Village and Big4 Gold Coast Holiday Park

»» Ms Emma Waterman, TFE Hotels

»» Mr Richard Munro, Accommodation Association

»» Mr Damien Cameron, The Star Entertainment Group

The New South Wales SAB’s focus will be on unregulated accommodation, boosting regional tourism and employment training.

»» Mr Mark Ronfeldt, Daiwa Living Waldorf Holdings »» Mr Matt Rubie, Fraser Hospitality Australia

New South Wales State Advisory Board

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

The Accommodation Association launched the Victorian State Advisory Board in November 2017 and current members include: »» Chair - Mr Adrian Williams, AccorHotels »» Mr Julian Clark, Lancemore Group (and President, Accommodation Association National Board) »» Ms Carol Douglas, TFE Hotels »» Mr Doug Flavell, Mantra Group »» Mr Iain Gunn, Comfort Inn Capital, Horsham »» Mr Anthony LoGiusto, Independent Consultant

Melbourne Airport maintains its curfew free status, encourages more open sky agreements and has an express train line between Melbourne Airport and Southern Cross Station.

The Queensland State Advisory Board was launched in March 2018 and the current members are: »» Chair - Mr Mark Hodge, Mantra Group »» Mr Matt Young, AccorHotels »» Mr Nick uit den Bogaard, Comfort Resort Blue Pacific, Mackay »» Mr Paul Hodda, Best Western Ascot Lodge Goondiwindi

»» Ms Catherine Mapperson, Quest Apartment Hotels

»» Mr Warren Cullum, Wyndham Hotel Group South Pacific and Pacific Rim

»» Mr Brett Salter, ALH Group

»» Mr Craig Barber, Alex Perry Hotels

»» Ms Michelle King, Accommodation Association

»» Ms Laura Younger, Accommodation Association

The policy agenda for the Victorian SAB include unregulated accommodation; ensuring that the Visit Victoria strategic plan benefits the accommodation sector in Victoria and that;

The Queensland SAB’s policy focus includes: unregulated accommodation; ensuring that Tourism Events Queensland’s strategy plan benefits the accommodation sector in Queensland;

Victorian State Advisory Board

11

AAoA News

ensuring that major events continue to be retained and new events won; and increases in tourism destination and event marketing funding.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Sandilands, former President and Chairman of Best Western Australasia for his contributions to the Accommodation Association. Ian had served as a Director on the National Board for 11 years and chaired the Queensland SAB since its launch in March 2018.

We’d also like to thank Steve Ryan, owner of Comfort Inn and Suites Robertson Gardens, for supporting the Accommodation Association. His property has been members of ours for the past 30 odd years and Steve has also served on the Queensland SAB. We wish both Ian and Steve the best of luck in their future endeavours.

Queensland State Advisory Board

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Upcoming Events for 2019 The Accommodation Association will be hosting its series of Signature Events in 2019, visiting nine locations throughout Australia. These locations include Cairns, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. Our speakers will provide presentations on market intelligence, analysis and performance outlook for local hotels/motels. This will assist attendees with their budget preparations and marketing plans, to better prepare strategies and manage the hotel’s performance moving forward.

The Accommodation Association’s CEO will also be conducting forums in regional cities and towns, to update local accommodation operations on our advocacy agenda and discuss issues affecting the local industry. We will be conducting regional forums in Launceston, Byron Bay, Bendigo, Ballarat and Darwin, with more to follow.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

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AAoA News

National Advisory Board on Employment

T

he Accommodation Association Academy is leading the industry, delivering pre-employment programs to develop and supply local workforce solutions for our members.

Perhaps more importantly, we are assisting unemployed youth to secure sustainable employment where existing recruitment process may have been a barrier to enter our industry.

The Accommodation Association would like to explore opportunities for broadening our remit to support the industry in all areas of employment considering categories of workers such as mature age, indigenous, employees with a disability and international visa holders. Furthermore, there is scope to provide solutions for existing employees with on the job training, executive and management training, traineeships etc.

Based on consultation with industry and the Department of Jobs and Small Business the Accommodation Association is establishing a National Advisory Board of Employers to:

»» Provide leadership and strategic direction on all employment matters for the industry »» Gain key support from industry and government »» Provide guidance on programs that are working and identifying gaps »» Harness and implement industry expertise »» Monitor performance for continuous improvement strategies To provide leadership to this group, the Accommodation Association National Board have endorsed David Mansfield, Area General Manager – Melbourne and Canberra for IHG to Chair the Board. David and the Board will be supported by Troy Schufft, AAoA Academy Director as Secretariat and more broadly the Accommodation Association team.

The launch of the National Advisory Board on Employment will be held early 2019.

We’ve also partnered with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to offer the merchant service fee of 0.28% on sales plus variable interchange fee on Visa and MasterCard, and $0.22 for debit cards. Other fees, charges, terms and conditions may apply.

Please refer to the service agreement.

If you are interested in joining as members of the Accommodation Association, please contact Michelle King, National Membership Manager, via email Michelle.King@aaoa.com.au or call 0425 767 867.

Accommodation Association welcomes Janet O’Brien to the team The Accommodation Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Janet O’Brien to the position of Membership Development Officer.

Janet started her career in the accommodation industry as an owner/ operator of the Tilpa Hotel – an isolated outback pub on the banks of the Darling River. She later joined Star Ratings, at the time known as AAA Tourism, as an accommodation assessor. Janet remained with Star Ratings for twelve and a half years and has held the position of Assessor, Assessing & Quality Consultant and Operations Manager.

The Accommodation Association is excited to welcome Janet to the team. As we continue to increase our presence across Australia, Janet’s wealth of knowledge and influence in regional areas will be a great asset. Janet will work alongside Michelle King, National Membership Manager, to engage with our members to continually improve on our services and benefits.

Office Details The Accommodation Association has an office across three states – NSW, VIC and QLD.

Member Benefits and Services

Head Office

Whether you are a running a motel, hotel or a serviced apartment, membership with the Accommodation Association will benefit you in many ways. For over 50 years, the Accommodation Association has been protecting its members across Australia and strengthening the industry.

Suite 401, Level 4, 105 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000

The Accommodation Association has a strong and positive relationship with key Federal and State/Territory political decisionmakers. We work for members to gain a better outcome for the accommodation industry in Australia.

We provide member services and benefits that are tailored to your business. Our Workplace Relations Advisory Service provides a range of advice and assistance regarding employment matters, including award interpretations, wage rates and unfair dismissals.

14

Victoria Level 27, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

Queensland Suite 8, 37 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217

Contact Us P: 02 8666 9015 Member Enquiries: 1300 304 197 F: 02 8666 9017 E: mail@aaoa.com.au Stay in touch with the Accommodation Association. Sign up to our newsletter, press releases and upcoming events by visiting our website: www.aaoa.com.au

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

15

Articles

Our earliest motels SIMON REEVES I Built Heritage Pty Ltd

The National Trust of Australia (Victoria) submits that the building known as the Oakleigh Motel, 1650 Dandenong Road, Oakleigh (Melbourne) is of both historical and architectural significance sufficient to warrant its inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register. (National Trust, 2009.)

T

he Oakleigh Motel was completed in 1957 and historically is the first motel to be built in Victoria and to be influenced by the American experience, representing the vanguard of a new type of building that came to dominate the travelling and holiday experience in the 1960s.

»» It is of outstanding historical and architectural significance to Victoria as the only surviving example of a motel erected in the Melbourne metropolitan area in the late 1950s, and, moreover, one of a very small number of surviving examples from that period known to survive across the entire state;

Motels were one of the new building types that developed in response to the boom in car ownership in post-war Australia, and the consequent development of a car-based urban culture and travelling patterns.

»» The Oakleigh Motel is of considerable aesthetic significance as a rare, early and substantially intact example of the American Googie style of commercial architecture;

Along with the shopping centre, the Drive-in, and of course the freeway; set among an endless carpet of suburban housing; the motel is one of the major icons of the most profound change in the development of cities in the 20th century.

This change is particularly seen in Melbourne’s vast suburban south-east, where early and major symbols came to congregate, such as the south-eastern freeway, the Chadstone shopping centre, Monash University, Waverley football park (AFL) and the Oakleigh Motel.

Architecturally, the Oakleigh Motel is possibly the best example in Victoria of the colourful, eye-catching roadside architecture seen as typical of the 1950s. Strongly derived from American models it is designed to be visually striking, and is dominated by a huge billboard style sign, illuminated at night.

In Australia, the term “motel” was first applied to basic roadside accommodation in the tradition of early twentieth century American motor courts. The West End Motel at Ballina in New South Wales, which has been cited as the first local example to use the term, consisted of four self-contained units with cooking and bathing facilities, but without private toilets.

Somewhat more reliably documented is the Penzance Motel at Eaglehawk Neck in Tasmania, which is often described as the first in Australia. This was established in either 1939 or 1940 (sources differ) by Donald C Richardson, who had reportedly travelled to the USA and taken his inspiration from the original “motel” that opened in San Ospidado, California in 1925.

The various angles and lightweight structure of the buildings were designed to impress with their modernity. The entry canopy is angled and supported by zig-zag struts, while the restaurant has a window wall angled out towards the passing traffic.

The rooms behind are angled, in order to provide some privacy from each other, as well as an exiting [sic] zig-zag effect. The building, with its prominent signage, became a local landmark.

New research I undertook for the report to the National Trust, revised the significance ascribed to the Oakleigh Motel.

This research concluded that: »» The Oakleigh Motel is of outstanding historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria as the oldest surviving motel in the state;

16

The Penzance Motel, described as “an American type motel with scattered units in chalets”, soon gained a reputation as a place of retreat, popular with authors, senior members of the judiciary (who would sequester themselves there to prepare their judgements), and business executives on leadership seminars.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Another early local example was the Wilpena Pound Motel in South Australia, which was established by the State Government in 1945 and was again described in contemporary sources as chalet-style accommodation.

However, there were virtually no comparable developments for another decade, with the exception of a few that appeared, predictably enough, in the burgeoning post-war tourist mecca of Queensland’s Gold Coast. The first of these was the Tarzana Travelotel at Coolangatta (1949), followed by Bernie Elsey’s Skyrider Motel at Main Beach in 1952.

It appears that there were no comparable developments in New South Wales and Victoria during this period, although there was certainly a burgeoning interest in the motel as a potential commercial venture. It is recorded, for example, that Melbourne architect Brian O’Connor began a special study of modern motel architecture as early as 1949.

In March 1955, the Clay Products Journal of Australia reported the formation of the country’s first motel chain company, Accommodation Australia Ltd, noting that, “the belief, long fostered in the columns of this journal, that Australia is a land suited to the introduction of the motel system on a substantial scale, has at last found practical expression” By the end of that year, the company had acquired sites for motel development at Toowoomba, Glen Innes, Armidale, Grafton, Canberra, Yass, Gundagai, Albury, Dimboola, Melbourne and Mount Gambier.

As noted by architect and historian J M Freeland: “toying at first with the idea of employing an architect on salary, the company eventually engaged Melbourne’s Brian O’Connor in a normal capacity to design a motel that would compare with the best and latest in America”.

O’Connor, as mentioned previously, had begun to study modern motel architecture as early as 1949. The first AA Motel, located on Northbourne Avenue in Canberra, was of brick construction, with 46 guest rooms arranged in discrete blocks around a courtyard, with a central roadhouse and a car service station.

When the new AA Motel at Canberra opened in May 1956, the property columnist for the Herald newspaper in Melbourne simply stated that “motels have hit New South Wales and will soon be expected in Victoria”.

The following year, a group of Sydney businessmen announced the formation of a new company, Hi-Way Motel Limited, which proposed “to build motels on highways between capital cities, providing accommodation and garage service”.

In early 1954, the General Secretary of the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce returned from a seven-month tour of the USA, full of enthusiasm for the modern motel.

Campaigning for local adoption, he pointed out that clearly, with its population fast approaching the 10,000,000 mark, and a certain amount of rapid growth by migration, Australia must sooner rather than later enter the motel business.

No country seemed more suited to holidaying by motor car than Australia, with its far flung distances, wide open spaces and tourist attractions of multitudinous variety.

However, it was another company, Cosy Cabins Ltd, that was responsible for Australia’s first truly modern American-style motel, which opened at Bathurst in New South Wales in 1954.

This was soon followed by the first example in Surfers Paradise, established by Greg Graham and Bill Reichelt in 1955 and known simply as the Surfers Paradise Motel.

However, there had already been a number of vague murmurings by that time. As early as January 1955, it was reported that a motel was proposed to be erected in Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula. Details are sketchy, but this presumably referred to the Mount Martha Motel, which stood on the Esplanade opposite Birdrock Beach.

This significantly early motel complex was certainly in operation

by October 1959, although it has not yet been established if it was actually under construction as early as January 1955.

During 1955, the viability of motels in Melbourne was further mooted in the context of the accommodation crisis associated with the impending Olympic Games. In August of that year, a newly-formed motel company, South Pacific Motels, announced its intention to build no fewer that seven motels throughout the metropolitan area, all to be completed in time for the Olympic Games in November 1956.

The first of these was to be erected in Canterbury Road, Ringwood, to a design prepared by architects Bernard Evans & Associates. However, the project did not proceed. Two months later, in October, Accommodation Australia Ltd announced how they had acquired a site for a “motor hotel” on the corner of Queens Road and Arthur Street in South Melbourne.

This building, “designed along American lines”, would provide 100 bedroom suites in a multi-storey tower. The firm’s managing director, F M Felton, helpfully pointed out to the press that a motor hotel was a high-rise vertical building, while a “motel was a low-rise horizontal development.

17

Articles

Although it was stated that the building would be completed in time for the Olympic Games, it, too failed to materialise, but later the area did become a noted motel precinct on Melbourne.

Stahle & Mitchell, and the latter by Peter Jorgenson, who went on to become a motel and hotel design specialist.

Yet another local businessman who announced his intention to build a motel in time for the Olympic Games was former car salesman Cyril Lewis. It was he who went on to establish the Oakleigh Motel on Dandenong Road.

While he admittedly met with more success than the starry-eyed developers already mentioned, his project was nevertheless fraught with sufficient difficulties to have the completed motel opening delayed until after the games had finished in late 1956, though the very site on which his motel was being built, was chosen as the half-way mark for the Marathon in those Melbourne Olympics of 1956.

The Start of the Motel Boom Australia’s eastern states underwent a motel boom in the late 1950”s with the number of high-quality motels increasing from just one in 1954 (Bathurst) to seven in 1955, 13 in 1956, 26 in 1957, 45 in 1958, and 80 by the end of 1959.

Many of these were independent developments, while others represented local franchises.

American Motels, which had taken over the motel at Bathurst soon after it opened in 1954, went on to establish others at Dubbo, Tamworth and Wollongong.

The Accommodation Australia (AA) franchise, which had been responsible for Canberra’s first motel in 1956, followed with branches at Albury, Coffs Harbour, Glen Innes, Goulburn and Gundagai. Not surprisingly, however, it was the Gold Coast that became the country’s epicentre for motel development in the late 1950s.

Notable examples included the Hi-Ho Motel at Broadbeach (1958), the Jubilee Motel at Southport (1958), and, at Surfer’s Paradise, the Californian, the South Pacific and the fabled El Dorado.

The Mitchell Valley Motel was particularly noted for its simple modern design, distinguished from its counterparts by “its lack of ostentation and eye-catching fripfrapery which seems to be the hallmark of commercial venture”.

The first RACV motel guide, issued in October 1959 as a simple mimeographed and stapled typescript, provides a useful overview of the extent of local motel development to that time. It listed five motels in the Melbourne metropolitan area, located at Braybrook, Craigieburn, Oakleigh, Parkville and St Kilda West. Of these, only two -- Oakleigh and Parkville -- were designated as members of the Motel Federation of Australia.

The directory also listed 14 motels in regional Victoria, at Bairnsdale, Benalla, Hamilton, Jamieson, Lakes Entrance, Mildura, Mount Martha, Nhill, Nowa Nowa, Swan Hill, Warrnambool and Wodonga. Again, only a small proportion of these three in total were members of the MFA. This RACV directory further reveals that Victoria lagged behind the other eastern states in terms of early motel development, particularly outside the capital cities. At that time, there were only three motels in central Brisbane, but 37 in regional Queensland.

There were seven motels in the Sydney metropolitan area supplemented by a staggering 72 others throughout regional New South Wales.

The western states, however, lagged even further behind. Another early directory reveals there were only three MFA-standard motels in all of South Australia (Seaton, Edwardstown and Mount Gambier), while the first in central Adelaide, the Travelodge Motel on South Terrace, did not open until early 1960.

The first motel in regional Victoria opened in early 1958. This was the Mitchell Valley Motel in Bairnsdale, followed, in October of the same year by the first example in inner suburban Melbourne: the Caravilla de Ville in Royal Parade, Parkville. Both were architect designed: the former by the leading modernist firm of Mockridge,

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The first motel in Western Australia, the Narrows Motel in the Perth suburb of Como, opened around the same time.

The early 1960s saw even more intense expansion of motels throughout the entire country.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Another motel guidebook, published in October 1963, listed no fewer than 22 motels in inner Melbourne, and well over a hundred in regional Victoria. The era of the modern motel in Australia had well and truly arrived.

As a surviving example of its type, the Oakleigh Motel must be seen in the context of others that were erected in Victoria during the initial motel boom of the later 1950’s regional centres throughout Victoria.

Surviving Motels in Melbourne Aside from the Oakleigh Motel, the five examples in inner Melbourne included the Caravilla Motel de Ville at 461 Royal Parade, Parkville, and the Pan American Motel in Canterbury Road, St Kilda West. Both were of brick construction, expressed in a fairly conventional modernist idiom, with flat roofs and solid walls alternating with generous full-height windows.

The former, designed by architect Peter Jorgenson, was a singlestoreyed courtyard development. Originally erected with 26 units, it was expanded to the rear in 1959 to provide an additional 33 units, making it one of the largest motels in Australia at the time.

The contemporaneous Pan American Motel in St Kilda, designed

by Bernard Evans & Associates, provided 20 sound-proofed suites spread over two storeys. Unfortunately, neither the Caravilla Motel de Ville in Parkville or the Pan American Motel in St Kilda still exist, as both were razed in relatively recent times for new medium-density housing developments.

The two other early Melbourne motels cited in the 1959 directory at Braybrook and Craigieburn, are rather less well-documented.

The Braybrook Motel (as it was known) was described as being in Ballarat Road, although contemporary post office and street directories have failed to confirm this. The Braybrook Motel, which was also not a member of the MFA, is also conspicuously absent from other early motel directories of the time.

The Motel Melbourne was located on the Hume Highway, north of Patullos Road, at Craigieburn (sometimes listed as Somerton).

The complex has also since been demolished, and its site is now occupied by various industrial buildings.

With the confirmed demolition of the four early motels at St Kilda, Parkville, Cragieburn and Mount Martha, and the suspected demolition of the one at Braybrook, the Oakleigh Motel not only stands out as the oldest remaining motel in Victoria, but also

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

an exceptionally rare (and perhaps even unique) survivor of the initial boom of motel development in the Melbourne metropolitan area between 1955 and 1959.

The Mount Martha Motel, which might have been built as early as 1955 and may therefore even pre-date the Oakleigh Motel, is also known to have been demolished for a new housing development.

Although there are certainly some notable survivors from the early 1960s, such as Parkville Travelodge (now Ramada Inn) at 539 Royal Parade (Peter Jorgenson, 1960) and the California Motel in Barkers Road, Kew (Bernard Evans & Associates, 1960), it can nevertheless be concluded that the Oakleigh Motel remains the only surviving 1950”s motel in Melbourne.

Other early motels in regional Victoria evidently remain in operation, although their original 1950”s buildings (often of timber construction) have clearly been replaced by more robust brick in later years. This is certainly the case with the former Benalla Motel (now Top of the Town) in Bridge Street, the Motel Wimmera in Victoria Street, Nhill, and the Arch Motel in Sturt Street, Alfredton (Ballarat).

Amongst those that are known to retain at least some of their original 1950”s built fabric are: »» Mildura Park Motel (formerly Motel Mildura), 250 Eighth Street, Mildura »» Koala Motel, Princes Highway, Pirron Yallock (near Colac) »» Paddle Steamer Motel (formerly Planet Motel), Murray Valley Highway, Swan Hill »» Gardenview Lodge Motel (formerly Motel Wangaratta), Wangaratta

Surviving Motels in Regional Victoria Comparisons should also be drawn with pre-1960 motels in regional Victoria. As mentioned, the 1959 RACV directory identified no fewer than 14 examples. Only three of these were of sufficiently high standard to permit membership of the MFA. These were the Mitchell Valley Motel at Bairnsdale, the Sunkist Motel at Mildura and the Club Motel at Wodonga. All three are confirmed as demolished.

»» Meeniyan Motel (formerly Meeniyan Motor Hotel), Meeniyan.

On this basis, it can be concluded that the Oakleigh Motel is significant as one of a relatively small number of early (pre-1960) motels that survive, in various states of intactness, across the whole of Victoria.

I have described the Oakleigh Motel as possibly the best example in Victoria of the colourful, eye-catching roadside architecture seen as typical of the 1950”s. Its debt to American antecedents, and specifically the lively West Coast commercial architecture of the period, is clearly acknowledged.

In his seminal book The Australian Ugliness (1957), Robin Boyd coined the term “Featurism” to describe this particular style, characterised by what he perceived as the dishonest use of applied ornament and expression of non-structural elements.

It has been perceptively noted that a sketch of a hypothetical “featurist” motel in Boyd’s book bears a striking resemblance to the example at Oakleigh, with its inward sloping walls and garish neon sign with illuminated arrow.

The deliberately eye-catching style that Boyd described as “featurism” is generally referred to by other names in the United States, most notably “Googie”. Boyd later referred to this style as architects “using a sort of mad professor’s geometry to catch the passing eye.”

In Britain, designers called this disreputable style ‘Borax’. In America, it was sometimes called ‘Googie’ after a remarkable Californian chain of restaurants that liked to look as if they had been going through an earthquake. The Googie stylists made shapes for the sake of shocking.

During the 1950s, the American Googie style became most

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strongly associated with certain roadside building types – namely, those commercial establishments where an eye-catching design might attract sufficient attention to lure the passer-by (or more specifically, the passing motorist) away from any competitors.

The style, therefore, was considered most suitable not only for coffee shops and fast-foot restaurants, but also motels, shops, car showrooms and tenpin bowling alleys. Recurring motifs in the American Googie, as defined by Alan Hess in his groundbreaking study of the style, include the use of the boomerang form, the concrete shell vault (often in an undulating form), diagonal struts, the dingbat (an asterisk-like ornament), the folded eave, the folded plate roof (invariably in a zigzagging form), the hyperbolic paraboloid roof, the tapering pylon and the use of ‘cheese holes’ in steel beams.

Australian Manifestations The definitive study of Googie architecture in Australia has yet to be undertaken. Over the past few years, however, I have documented and photographed enough examples in this country to provide a basic context for the Oakleigh Motel. This research and fieldwork suggests that the Googie style was adopted locally in the same types of roadside commercial buildings seen in the United States.

The examples at Wangaratta and Warrnambool are of almost identical design. Each has a freestanding dining room at the front, with a distinctive cross-gabled A-frame roof – a motif blatantly derived from the Howard Johnson chain of motels in the USA. The Colac Motel, overlooking the lake, was a two-storey building with a folded plate roof of bold zigzagging form, and the word “motel” across the side walls in Googie-style cursive lettering. This striking building, located on the Princes Highway on the eastern outskirts of the town, has been demolished.

The two examples at Warrnambool and Wangaratta still stand, although both have been somewhat altered (the latter, for instance, by the infilling of the original glazed dining room walls with solid brickwork.)

Although uncommon in Victoria, Googie-style motels otherwise proliferated in the more tourist-oriented parts of the country, notably the Gold Coast in Queensland Some motels, such as the Seabreeze Motel at Surfers Paradise and the Kirriwina Motel at Noosaville, had brightly-coloured spur walls penetrated by circular openings of various sizes, which are known in Googie parlance as ‘cheeseholes’.

Some of the explicitly Googie-style motels in Victoria include the former Motel Wangaratta (now Gardenview Lodge), the former Motel Warrnambool (now Southern Right Motel), and the former Motel Colac (later the Commodore). Significantly, all three were erected by the same developer, who freely admits taking his inspiration from American motels published in contemporary monographs.

The Golden Sun Motel, also at Surfers Paradise, had a front wall with sloping sides and a striking cliff-like feature of rough stone cladding, along with a curving open staircase to the upper level, and a front swimming pool of irregular form, edged with variegated concrete blocks and river stones set in concrete.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

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Articles

The famous El Dorado Motel in Surfers Paradise (1958) was one of the most explicitly American-style motels ever erected in Australia. The building included an elevated block with a red-andyellow chequerboard facade opening onto a sundeck with a redpainted metal railing.

A porte-cochere alongside the office was made up of angled struts, in what would be described in Googie parlance as the ‘structural bent’. A roof-mounted neon skysign incorporated the word ‘motel’ in yellow cursive lettering, with a giant arrow pointing downwards

The New Orleans Motel at Surfers Paradise and the Reef Motel at North Rockhampton, both had butterfly roofs. The former example was further enlivened by a louvred screen of angled fins and a spur wall with a chequerboard pattern.

Unfortunately, most of these iconic 1950”s Googie motels along the Gold Coast have since been demolished. There are some rare survivors elsewhere in Australia, which still remain in operation as motels, including several in a row in Coffs Harbour and two particularly fine ones in Adelaide.

The Regal Park Motor Inn, in North Adelaide, is a modest but notably intact example of the Googie tradition, with its undulating roof form, pebbled spandrel panels and roof-mounted neon skysign.

Even more striking is the Sands Motel, on the south-eastern edge of the city, which has a canopy made up of a row of concrete shell arches, a billboard-like front wall bearing the motel’s name in distinctive Las Vegas-style lettering, and a rare intact surviving illuminated signpost on the street, with angled posts and geometric shapes.

This article was first run 10 years ago over 2 issues of Motel Owner.

We thank Simon Reeves for this incredible study of early motels in Australia, and the use of pictures from his personal collection.

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Its good to see Dick Smith making the news and stating what many in the industry have been saying for a long time and at last opening up a discussion on the power and cost on the OTA’s (Online Travel Agents such as Booking.com, Expedia, Wotif etc.).

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n brief he is saying that firstly almost all the OTA’s are owned by a few massive overseas companies, charging high commissions which are effectively taking money away from and adversely affecting local hotels and motels. He also mentions that the profits made are going overseas.

To overcome this, he is asking Australians to bypass the OTA’s and book the properties direct where they could get a better rate, the property will pay no commission and the money stays in Australia.

I’m sure you’re all nodding in agreement as you read this, but lets go into it a bit deeper and see how practical it really is.

There is no doubt that there is very little competition left in the OTA market as the big players have bought up most of, if not all their competitors. This has allowed them to raise commissions and also tie properties into contracts which limit competition by not allowing them to charge lower rates than they offer the OTA’s.

This can mean properties cannot offer better rates online or in fact to a caller or walk in. Even if not specifically mentioned in a contract, there could be consequences if rate parity is broken and better rates are offered etc, which would definitely affect long term online sales.

While these are the down sides of the OTA’s, it is not all bad and there are also definitely many upsides to being listed with them.

Yes they do charge a commission which you might think is too high. But consider where some of this money goes.

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The two major OTA’s spend over one BILLION dollars a year on online advertising alone. Then there is the blanket TV and print advertising as well. So the commission you are paying is going a long way to promoting your property through the OTA. Consider what this would cost if you advertised yourself.

But as with any cost, you have to consider the “rate of return” or how much “bang are you getting for your buck”. Is the total cost of listing acceptable, bearing in mind how many bookings and exposure you are getting?. Could you do better spending this money elsewhere or could you even live with lower occupancy and achieve the same bottom line if no OTA’s were used?.

The answer in most cases I think would be no, you cannot achieve better results doing it yourself.

But even if you did think you could do better with the money, the OTA’s are so entrenched in the booking process it is almost impossible for smaller operators not be listed with them. Some properties are getting more than 50% of their booking trough these OTA’s and this is not easy to replace.

I think Dick Smith doesn’t fully understand the nature of the industry and while he is totally correct in most of what he is saying, he is being a bit simplistic to think that you can somehow do without these large OTA’s by simply asking people to book direct.

In saying that, every property should do as much as they can to get more direct bookings and there are a number of ways to do this. Ideally direct bookings should be part of you general mix of business of which the OTA’s will always play a part. You can offer return guests incentives to book direct, you can engage with guests at check in or check out highlighting the benefits of booking direct and it might be a good idea to keep a number of rooms off the OTA system to sell directly and even if you don’t offer better rates, you still save on the commission.

So while more competition is a good thing and it would be great to have more Australian OTA’s with innovative and different ways to sell your rooms, until this happens you are stuck with the OTA’s and its up to you to work them to your advantage so everyone benefits.

This last point is probably the most important. To get the best results and maximum bookings from OTA’s, you need to work with them and the system.

This involves working closely with the local OTA representatives so they have you in mind when special promotions are on offer, offering your own specials for them to advertise at times that suit you, do joint promotions with them where you might offer some incentives to guests booked by a certain OTA’s.

Whatever you feel about OTA’s and Dick Smith’s views, the bottom line is that you all want to maximise occupancy, revenue and most importantly your bottom line, so the best way of doing this is using everything at your disposal to achieve this which at the moment includes a mix of direct bookings and understanding how to get more value from what you are spending on OTA’s

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Motels – THE LITTLE GUY and how they can stand out AMANDA BEAZLEY I Beazley Group Design + Fitout Pty Ltd, Hotel/Motel Fitout Specialists, www.beazleygroup.com.au

The Hospitality Industry is a highly competitive Market and always has been. We have been specialists in the Refurbishment field for over 25 years and the fight for Properties’ to stay ahead has never been fiercer.

W

hat has changed in the last 5 years is that the larger Hotel chains are moving into places they were once not interested in. Building brand new properties, clean, efficient and new! And they are lovely. So, what happens to the smaller Motelier, the ‘Mum and Dad’ owner operators… how can they compete?

In a time when a guest has variety and choice, how can you make them CHOOSE YOU? A number of years back I would have said to keep the rooms all the same for ease of upkeep and maintenance. I would have said to keep it neutral so that the design has longevity. And that was all good advice. However now when the Hotel Chains all look the same as each other, all be it particular to their own ‘brand’, the edge that smaller Moteliers can have is, to mix it up.

The hotel chain usually do have a brand and so regardless of the location, they look similar to each other. However not all customers want that. The age of the BNB has shown that guests want something that tells them where they are staying, they want something a little different, something personal, something that says…’yes I remember that Motel, it was the one with the …”, “lets go back to that one”. So Motelier’s it’s time to have fun with your rooms.

At very minimal cost you can Refurbish rooms to give them some individuality. While on vacation, guests are looking more and more for rooms that are homely and fun and that tell them about the location they are staying at. If it’s a beach location; there might be old painted up surfboards on the wall above the bed, by a river… collect some oars and paint them in colours and use them as a feature. Avoid going too far and making the room look trashy, quirky is the aim.

Wall murals or feature wall papers are a wonderful way to give the room a lift without spending a lot of money. A new coat of paint, wallpaper, white bedding, a funky cushion or Artwork and the room has gone from bland and dated to fun and individual.

There are some wonderful custom coloured vinyl wallpapers coming onto the market now that we are starting to use. Because they are vinyl they are a lot more hard wearing even in warm or humid climates and they are bright and fun. A wonderful green

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rich patterned wallpaper in location like the mountains would be a great eye catcher and a way to bring the outside in. It also lets your guest have a sense of place. A sense of where they are and the ambience of the property and surroundings.

Many hotels, while lovely, have a very similar look and feel. The rooms are usually lovely, clean and the Hotel chains do this really well. They have researched and implemented and are successful… so don’t compete with them at the same game. The Hotel feel may appeal to many guests, others want an experience. So take it outside the box, owner operators and individually owned Properties are not limited and can have the freedom to create something very special.

Décor items are another way to bring Individuality to the room.

Funky and individual cushions and décor add life and colour to a colour palette. True; they may get broken or taken, however these can always be charged back to the room and replaced, don’t let this deter you. Another idea may be to have a few colour schemes running through the property.

If you are appealing to the Corporate traveller rather than the vacationer, the approach is different and other elements such as a good desk and lighting are important. However Corporate does not need to mean ‘boring’.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

As any idea, these designs need careful planning and experience in the execution to pull together and work. The rooms still need to look refined, be serviceable, commercially viable and compliant. Quirky and eclectic is NOT another way of saying ‘putting together some random pieces’ it takes a high level of skill with colour, balance and experience to make it work. So ask a professional to assist with the concepts.

»» Maintenance: Not just clean free of stains and holes. It is amazing how white triple sheeting will lift the overall appearance of the room.

It is also always important to have longevity in the design which is difficult with such signature pieces. The trick is to place these highlights in ways that can be changed without too much cost.

So rather than a ‘signature’ carpet, use a rug. Paint and wallpaper are ways to have fun and are easily changed as are cushions.

»» Bedding: A comfortable bed is always important, especially with the level of beds people have in their homes. Sunken mattresses that are not firm, exposed springs or collapsed sides in the bed are unacceptable to a guest. Remember ultimately your guests are staying at your property to sleep, so a comfortable bed is crucial.

Dulux have just released their 2019 Colour Forecast.. https://www.dulux.com.au/specifier/colour/colourforecast/2019/?eci d=DM3582&bid=3015 35714&rid=0001488756 …and its great to see COLOUR! Barely a grey in site... This is the chance for the smaller property to really stand out and with an Individual Flare.

If you need assistance with the design and where to add, what to do.. feel free to give us a call and we can put together a package for you. We can even take it through to implementing or complete Refurbishments if required.

As always the basics in what guests want have not changed. A great Colour Scheme and design aesthetic is no good unless you have these basics…

Guests are always looking for: »» Cleanliness: the room needs to be well maintained and “spotless”.

»» Privacy: This is another important factor that guests look for when choosing their property. Soundproof rooms at least the room should have privacy sheers and block out curtains.

»» Lighting: Good lighting in your rooms: bedside table lights, desk lamp and especially a well-lit bathroom.

The Business Traveller: »» A good wireless service »» A desk at the correct height with sufficient space to accommodate laptop computers or a comfortable place to sit with iPads. »» A level of comfort to provide an inviting environment in which to stay and work. »» Comfortable tub chair and coffee table to relax. »» Perhaps even use a different colour scheme in these rooms to differentiate them from your “standard” rooms.

For advice and ‘IDEAL solutions’ call Beazley Group Design + Fitout Pty Ltd.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Bed Bugs: Tips & Tricks STEPHEN L. DOGGETT I Director, Department of Medical Entomology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital, NSW

Over the last two decades, the world has seen an unprecedented resurgence in bed bugs. This has been as unexpected as it has been dramatic, with no sector of society being exempt from a possible infestation.

Furthermore, the resurgence has involved huge financial costs; there is no question that these nuisance insects are impacting the world economy billions of dollars annually. In Australia alone, it was estimated that bed bugs had a fiscal cost on our economy of over $200million dollars between the years 2000 to 2012, and the accommodation sector bore the brunt of this expense.

W

ell the good news is that Australia is the only country in the world that has seen a downturn in the number of bed bug infestations over recent years. This proud achievement has largely come about due to the cooperation of health workers, university researchers, and the pest control industry in producing the world’s first industry standard that promotes best practice in bed bug management. ‘A Code of Practice for the Control of Bed Bug Infestations in Australia’ was first developed in 2005 some five years before any other organization produced a similar guideline. The Code has educated all stakeholders in best practice in the control of actual bed bug infestations and the management of potential infestations. However, in spite of our successes, we are a long way from eliminating bed bugs forever. Unfortunately, many in the accommodation sector who suddenly find themselves with a bed bug infestation, often make fundamental errors in controlling these insects, which only makes the situation worse, costing them more money in the long-term. Here are few tips and tricks to avoid major pitfalls.

1. Bed bug control is extremely challenging. The reason for the modern bed bug resurgence is due to the development of insecticide resistance. The current crop of bed bugs are virtually impossible to kill with insecticides. This means it is necessary to incorporate non-chemical means of control such as steam, vacuuming, and/or heat to ensure that eradication is achieved.

It is also necessary to conduct follow up inspections to ensure that the control program has been successful. As such, bed bug control takes time and is costly.

2. Do not pay cheap. As they say, if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys, and this is especially true with the pest control industry. While some companies may charge under $100 per room, do not expect that the bed bugs will be eliminated. In fact I can almost guarantee that such treatments will fail, that the bed bugs will spread to other rooms, and your costs will escalate.

In one example, a staff accommodation block attached to one of the major Sydney hospitals had bed bugs in one room that subsequently spread to 20% of the rooms in the facility, with

some 65 rooms infested. What should have cost around $400 to treat, ended up costing over $40,000 to eradicate all the bed bugs. The spread was due to poor pest management. Sadly this example has been all too common in recent years.

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3. Do not DIY. So often accommodation managers attempt to control bed bugs themselves, and fail, and fail, and fail... Too often it is expected that a single application of insecticide will be enough, but it never is, due to the insecticide resistance issues mentioned above. The result of poor treatments is that the infestation spreads, as per the above example, and that the infestation persists, often for years. Under no circumstances should bed bug control be attempted unless you have a pest management license. Training in such licenses includes the proper handling and use of insecticides, as well as the control of the pest. With bed bugs, always seek a company with experience in bed bug management and ensure that they follow industry standards.

Bed Bug Biology – which features the bizarre mating behaviour of bed bugs!

4. Ask for a written warranty. The better pest management companies are willing to give written warranties, as they are confident of their work. Of course you will pay more initially, but will save in the long-term. In the warranty/contract, the company may require you to do certain things, such as ensure access to adjoining rooms for inspection, and dismantle beds and other fittings. Bed bug control is a cooperative venture between you and the pest control company, do not expect a warranty if you are unwilling to work with the company.

ADVANCES has been four years in the making and was edited by the author of this article, Stephen Doggett (Westmead Hospital), along with Dini Miller (USA) and Chow-Yang Lee (Malaysia).

While ADVANCES aims to be a reference book for academic researchers and students alike, it is largely written an easy to read format, making the information accessible to all. It will prove to be a valuable text for those in the hospitality industry and accommodation managers, who are tasked with the job of minimizing the risk of bed bugs in their facility, or have to manage the processes of eradication of active infestations.

With the growth in bed bug litigation across the world, both the litigant and defendant legal teams will find ADVANCES an indispensable source of contemporary information, which will assist in their legal preparations. Importantly, ADVANCES provides up-to-date information for the professional pest manager on bed bug biology and management. ADVANCES is to be published

by Wiley-Blackwell, due for release in March 2018 and will be available from all major book stores. For more information and to receive a major discount on the recommended retail price, go to www.abmmbb.com

5. Remove all signs of past infestations. Over the last 15 months I have stayed in two hotels in Australia that had evidence of bed bugs and one had signs of a massive infestation. Considering how badly I react to bed bug bites, there is no way that I would stay in such a room unless the room was completely dismantled to ensure bed bugs were not present. Naturally, new rooms were requested in both cases. It is critical that bed bug spotting, dead bed bugs, eggs, and cast skins, are all removed to rule out the possibility if a new infestation. Plus any guest could photograph the bed bug signs and post the images to social media; instantly damaging your reputation! Removing past bed bug evidence, protects you and your facility in a multitude of ways.

6. Seek quality information. The industry standard mentioned above is freely available from www.bedbug.org.au and should be you first reference point if your facility becomes infested.

The same web site also has ‘A Bed Bug Management Policy & Procedural Guide for Accommodation Providers’, which is again free and you can use and adopt this procedural guide for handling bed bug infestations in your own facility. However the most up-to-date and comprehensive text ever produced is just about to be released, called ‘Advances in the Biology and Management of Modern Bed Bugs’.

ADVANCES is a complete synthesis of bed bug information from the past to the present, is more than 460 pages in length, and has more than 60 contributors from across the globe. There are eight main parts with 46 chapters, which cover: Bed Bugs in Society – reviews bed bugs through history and the various control methods used.

The Global Resurgence – with contributions from all the major regions from across the world.

Bed Bug Impacts – includes health and economic impacts caused by bed bugs.

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Bed Bug Management – covering prevention, monitoring, chemical and non-chemical control methods.

Bed Bug Control in Specific Situations – this includes management in hotels.

Bed Bugs and the Law – including bed bug related laws in Australia.

The Future – this covers the future and the strategies required to reverse the bed bug resurgence.

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Articles

Online bookings CAROL NESBITT I innQuest Australia

Online bookings are once again a hot topic, the discussions refuelled by the viral video of Dick Smith calling all Australians to account over their accommodation booking habits. Highlighting the amount of hard-earned cash floating out of the pockets of Australian accommodation businesses into the hands of multi-national companies with no GST attached. Adding to this is the on-going debate on Airbnb and how much of a foothold they should have in our industry given current regulations in place. No matter where you look, there is an opinion, and an ensuing argument. We still live in hope that the Australian Government will stand up to these operators as they have with google, Amazon & eBay to demand that they incorporate an Australian entity which can collect local taxes on the commissions they are charging. Funds that could (and should) be used to stimulate regional tourism and support businesses in areas where other industries have failed to capitalise.

There is no doubt that we are part of the global village but wouldn’t it be great to see a little more support of our own industry.

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olitics aside, the reality of running a motel in 2018 is that you should have a computerised reservation system connected to a website where your guests can comfortably make their own reservation at any time of day or night from anywhere in the world. Guests have been educated by blanket advertising on all forms of digital media to visit this or that web page, they are encouraged use media platforms to search, buy and review the best of your room rates, not pick up the phone or send an email. The logical countermove is to provide your guests with an easy portal to make a reservation, use the fuel created by the Dick Smith video and subsequent ACCC investigations.

If a prospective guest has already been drawn to your own website the key is to make the path to a booking easy, on the first page, no scrolling, no searching through tabs, one click and they are ready to make a direct reservation. While this seems simple, it is still all too common that once you manage to locate a properties website, you then have to then click past the very wordy first page to the accommodation section, navigate through the room offerings before finding the reservation button (if the ability to book direct online even exists)… in today’s fast paced world any prospective booker has moved on, you have made it too hard.

Let me share a story: Recently I visited a motels website and didn’t see the all too familiar image of a guest room, yet I was instantly hooked and wanted to visit this place. In less than three seconds they captured my imagination, not by showing a guest room or a plate of food, but with an image that captured the essence of the experience in staying there. One simple

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image, an empty, peaceful beach with not one single footprint in the sand. That one image enables the guest to picture a beautiful walk on that beach, they are instantly transported to the destination, the effect of serenity. That is the power of an image and having an understanding that with a flick of the guests finger they can move on, it’s up to every business owner to look deep into why a guest would want to stay at your property among all the others they are searching in the area.

Just as important are the images which are loaded onto the various channels, again think about the guest’s journey to making their reservation, if they are on a popular booking website on the very first page they will see as many properties as are in the region so why would they slow down and view your property over another. The tiny picture with your listing speaks volumes, take the opportunity to be quirky or imaginative, drawing the client to look further and perhaps they will jump off the booking site and come looking for your website directly!

The marketplace for computerised reservation software is bewildering, clouds, apps, SaaS, the list goes on… many of these companies residing out of Australia and again sending profits (and support services) out of the country. Thankfully there are local companies who are devoted to old fashioned service, ready to take the mystery out of the transition to online reservations and online distribution channels, computerised reservations completely integrated so moteliers can concentrate on managing the property and looking after guests.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Australia produces some of the finest hospitality technology systems getting around which are well developed, thoughtful to the end user and adaptable to the ever-changing hospitality industry, now being pushed to the rest of the world. In this movement of Australian Made, looking within gives moteliers an opportunity to invest in the local industry and help businesses improve their services inside our borders putting money back into the country, employing locals who understand the Australian way of life.

The trick is to find a company who are willing to work with you and educate your team, a local company who will happily explain how connections from web page to a computerised reservation system will work, and a company who will take all the mystery out of online reservations giving you the confidence to go about your daily work knowing that the computer system is managing your availability online.

Two Australian companies have collaborated to bring a solid, low priced and simple to use package for moteliers with a common ideal, that the clients need no IT experience or knowledge of how the computerised system works. Employing people who have been on the same side of the desk as the motelier, trained in hotel management and willing to share years of combined knowledge. Speaking plain English, with straight forward pricing and a genuine care for each client and the industry we all share.

The collaboration between the Concierge Front Office System and the UseRoss Channel Manager/ Online Reservation System brings back that customer service. Visit either of us at www.conciergesoftware.com.au and www.useross.com.au

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Articles

Don’t be a sucker

BARBARA SARGEANT

They say that a dog is a man’s best friend. What then of the Housekeeper’s best friend – the vacuum cleaner. Love them or hate them, they are a necessity of today’s modern cleaning techniques. Whether you have a large hotel or a small motel most of you will have carpet in the rooms. One of the things that constantly surprises me as I travel from hotel to hotel is the general lack of care and knowledge required for a getting a good result from a vacuum cleaner.

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ne General Manager at one of the hotels I recently visited told me that his room attendants never seem to vacuum the corridors. True, from appearances, the corridors did look a bit unkempt but on further investigation, I had to laugh to myself when I saw the state of the vacuum cleaners that were in use. I would not be lying if I said they must have been at least 25-30 years old, in fact I checked with the manufacturer who confirmed my suspicions. These trusted friends had been repeatedly bashed, abused, pulled from pillar to post and poorly (if at all) maintained.

Hoses were broken, wheels were missing, the heads were cracked and the machines were literally held together with masking tape.

Some of the filter bags inside resembled a dog I used to own.

How then are the carpets expected to be cleaned?

It is the trend of particularly the larger hotels these days, to do soft refurbishments approximately every 5-8 years and it is true that hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on designing and deciding which carpets are the most suitable so that the property is presented at its best. Why then do owners and managers not have the same interest in researching which vacuum cleaners would be best suited to their property’s needs and assist in extending the life of their huge investment? A domestic style vacuum cleaner is great for home use where vacuuming is probably done in a few rooms, once or twice a week, however in a busy hotel or motel, room attendants are often expected to vacuum between 13 and 18 rooms plus miles of corridors, lifts and public areas etc. every day.

There are many styles, makes and models of vacuum cleaners to choose from and certainly budget considerations come into play, after all if you pay for a Holden, you don’t expect the luxury of a Rolls Royce. BUT let’s think for a moment of the results of not having the proper equipment to do the job. »» Carpets look dusty and age more quickly. »» Machines break down more easily because they are not designed for the hard work that hotel cleaning necessitates. »» Time is wasted by staff because machines are out of order pending repair. »» Reception are held up because rooms are not ready, because they have not yet been vacuumed. »» Cleaning staff become unhappy because they have

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to ‘borrow’ machines from other staff members. »» Cleaning standards become compromised.

Selection of a vacuum cleaner should take into consideration many things, but essentially the following: »» The vacuum cleaner should have the correct capacity for the amount of work it will do on a daily basis – if it needs to be emptied more than once a day it is too small. »» The motor strength is important as it is this that drives the fan which creates the suction. »» The weight of the vacuum cleaner in its entirety (consider its use by smaller staff ) – does it have to be carried up steps for example? »» Can it be stored properly in the storage space available. »» Ease of use by all staff – they should not have to bend their backs. »» Accessibility of switches, can be either foot or hand operated. »» Ease of fixing attachments if any – and length of tubing for extension if necessary. »» Allowance for adjustment for the depth of the pile of the carpet. »» Size and design of the foot (is it adjustable for hard floor vs carpet). This is very handy when picking up hair or confetti from the bathroom floor. »» Is the hose long enough to facilitate ease of use. »» Is the electrical cord long enough to use without the use of an extension cord, thereby reducing hazards. »» Ease of emptying – Personally I prefer paper dust bags and whilst there is more cost involved in regular replacement, they reduce the amount of dust going back into the atmosphere and also help to maintain the life of the motor as well as being cleaner and easier for staff to handle. »» Bag full warning. »» Adjustable suction. »» Easily mobile – runners or castors.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

»» Easily balanced – shouldn’t tip up when pulled along. »» Easy cord storage. »» Simple in shape and easy to clean from the outside – there should be no protrusions which can damage furniture. »» Noise of operation should be considered. »» Spare parts provided? »» Cost of spare parts. »» Agreement by the supplier to train and retrain staff in the use and daily maintenance. »» What service arrangements are available – sometimes suppliers are just that and you have to deal with their nominated representative for service calls. »» Colour – some of today’s vacuum cleaners are available in bright colours and luminous green or orange, for example, may not be suitable for a conservative style hotel.

»» Reference – Ask the supplier for the names of other hotels where the model you are considering selecting is in use and then call them for a valuable opinion – the response may surprise you.

Summary A reputable supplier should let you trial their vacuum cleaners before the final selection takes place. Let staff use them and allow time for feedback from them.

Take what are the best and worst features of several machines and let that assist you in making the final decision.

In essence, you should buy the best you can afford, which will give you reliable service and will operate at maximum efficiency thereby minimising labour, inconvenience and cost in the long term. There should be access to reliable and regular servicing of machines.

A quality vacuum cleaner which is well maintained and cared for will give you years of reliable service.

The author can be contacted at b.sarge@bigpond.com

»» Price and Warranty.

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These solutions can be delivered as traditional on property solutions, or hosted / Cloud above property offerings tailored to your needs and delivering the right solution for the right Hotel,

For more information please contact Rex Lane +61 2 9819 8900 or rexl@talkware.com.au or visit www.talkware.com.au 37

Articles

NBN is coming SOON to you

HOW WILL IT BE DELIVERED TO YOUR COMPLEX? FTTP, FTTN, FTTdp...WHAT DOES IT ALL EVEN MEAN? JUDY SENN I Time Out Internet

There has been a bevy of activity on the streets of Australia lately with the ramp up of the rollout of the NBN with NBN Co and Telstra vans working away to install the infrastructure required to roll it out.

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now know we are to be connected to the NBN via FTTN – Fibre to the node technology. Our area on the Sunshine Coast has seen “nodes” installed around town. I know this because there is a node around the corner and whilst being installed we lost our telephone line and internet connection for four days. I shudder whenever I see work in the pits, pillars and nodes around town, worried about our service being disconnected again and also our customer’s services which some have been affected also.

But what does FTTN – Fibre to the node even mean and what will it give us? Researching this article took me straight to the NBN Co’s website where I was advised that “The nbn™ network is one of the most advanced technology projects in Australian history – but understanding how it gets to you is easy.”

Awesome, I thought. Easy, they say. So here is my best attempt to unravel the terminology behind the NBN technology and how it may be delivered to your complex.

Speed. NBN Co offer the following internet connection speeds (up to) nbn 12, 25, nbn 50, nbn 100 – this is Megabits per second (Mbps).

Service Providers. Service Providers will have access to these speeds for your area, however they may not offer them as available plans. They may not offer unlimited monthly data either.

You need to shop around and get the fastest speed and the most data per month you can, particularly if you use the connection for your guest wifi system. Unlimited monthly data is a must. Once the NBN infrastructure is completed in your area, the Service Provider will manage the final connection to your complex.

You don’t have to stay with your current Service Provider (unless contracted). If you’re under contract see if it can be upgraded to an NBN plan. We’re hearing stories of providers scaring managers into signing up with them to the NBN as they’re being told their ADSL service will be turned off soon and they’ll lose their telephone number. ADSL and PSTN services will be turned off

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approximately 18 months after the NBN is available in your area and you should be given plenty of notice. Ensure you’re ready and plan for this.

Technology. How you receive the NBN will depend on your location. NBN Co uses a variety of different technologies.

FTTN – Fibre to the node. Fibre to the node is where fibre is run to a newly built street cabinet or “node”. It allows the NBN network signal to travel over optic fibre from the exchange to the node and connect with the existing copper network to reach your premises.

FTTP – Fibre to the premises. Fibre to the premises is where a fibre optic line will be run from the nearest available node, to your premises. FTTP also requires an NBN network device to be installed inside your complex and requires power to operate and only installable by an approved NBN Installer or service provider.

FTTB – Fibre to the building. Fibre to the building is generally used when connecting an apartment block or similar type of building to the NBN network. A fibre optic line is run to the buildings communications room and existing technology in the building is used to connect apartments. The fibre node in the building communications room is usually a secure cabinet.

HFC – Hybrid Fibre Coaxial. Hybrid Fibre Coaxial is used where the existing ‘pay TV’ or cable network can be used to reach the premises. A HFC line will be run from the nearest available fibre node to your premises and an NBN network device will need to be installed at the point where the HFC line enters your premises and requires power to operate and only installable by an approved NBN Installer or service provider.

FTTdp – Fibre to the distribution point. Fibre to the distribution point sits somewhere between FTTN and FTTP in speed, cost and complexity. It’s a new technology that may feature heavily in the future NBN roll out. It alludes to being cheaper than FTTP, faster

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

than FTTN and quick to roll out. FTTdp brings the fibre almost to complexes doorsteps, with the distribution point referring to the individual junction box in the telecommunications pit in the street outside each property. With fibre running to within metres of the property means near-gigabit network speeds can be achieved over the very short run of copper between premises and pit and an upgrade to full fibre to the premises is easily possible in the future. In 2018, Fibre to the Curb FTTC will replace the term Fibre to the Distribution-Point FTTdp.

services can be delivered via the Sky Muster satellite. A satellite dish is installed on the premises and receives the NBN network signal from the Sky Muster satellite. Sky Muster connections also require an NBN network device to be installed at the point where the cable from the roof satellite dish enters your complex and requires power to operate and only installable by an approved NBN Installer or service provider.

Fixed Wireless connections and Sky Muster services. These types of connections are used mostly in regional, rural and remote areas, where premises are spread out geographically over many square kilometres.

My recommendation is to put your address in the NBN Co’s website and it should tell you when your address has NBN available and the technology that will be used to deliver it.

However, with so many different technologies being used to roll out the NBN and some of them being replaced, the information may vary.

I hope I’ve cleared up a few things. That was easy, wasn’t it?

Fixed Wireless. Fixed Wireless is a form of connection where data is sent from a transmission tower located as much as 14kms away and travels wirelessly to an antenna on the roof of the complex.

It requires an NBN network device to be installed at the point where the cable from the roof antenna enters your complex and requires power to operate and only installable by an approved NBN Installer or service provider.

Don’t settle for the first Service Providers quote. Shop around and get what is best for your business and guest wifi system.

Be prepared for the changeover. Here’s hoping the NBN is the panacea we have all been waiting for. www.timeoutinternet.com

SkyMuster. The connection of some remote and rural locations

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

GUEST ENTERTAINMENT

EVERYTHING A GUEST NEEDS TO ENTERTAIN THEM IS IN THE PALM OF THEIR HAND BUT THEY NEED YOUR GUEST WIFI JUDY SENN I Time Out Internet

There is been a huge move for accommodation providers to start looking at Guest Entertainment. BYOC – Bring your own content- everyone’s doing it! Guests have access to absolutely anything they want by connecting to the internet on their devices through your guest wifi.

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or some time now, guests have been able to access their own entertainment subscriptions and purchase videos on demand from every site imaginable online and watch it on their device. But the times are changing. They want to watch it on a larger screen – the TV in their hotel room. We have been getting calls for guests wanting to hook up their AppleTV that they have brought on holidays with them and we easily connect it for them. The AppleTV enables them to turn your TV into a SmartTV so they can access and stream their own content. Other portable devices guests are starting to bring are Telstra TV’s, Roku’s, Google Chrome cast’s and Amazon is soon to release their Amazon Fire TV in Australia.

The whole family generally has subscriptions for services on the devices and their favourite shows are saved exactly where they left off watching them at home. Guests can simply sign into their streaming services for customised programming during their stay with you and carry on their binge watching. This is how they now want to watch television.

We can’t predict what’s coming up in technology in the next few years and how that will affect you and your guests. But be wary of being locked into a lengthy contract on video on demand services for in room entertainment. The guest is not going to pay for something they can bring with them and already pay for and quite often cheaper than your pay per view prices. If they won’t pay, you are going to have to and honour your contract.

Gimmicks get old fast and focusing on giving your guests fast reliable wifi connections so they can do what they want at your site is important. Enhance the guest experience.

What guests do in their house they want to do in the hotel room and investment into wifi and bandwidth is crucial.

Unlimited data is a must for any type of guest entertainment therefore a fast and reliable internet connection is imperative and an in room guest wifi system is a must – a wireless access point or wireless modem in each unit to ensure the signal is strong enough for streaming and to supply the bandwidth required for streaming.

A lot of accommodation providers are getting rid of Foxtel and PABX’s and using those funds to update their guest wifi and internet connections. Guests can bring their Foxtel subscriptions with them and “nearly” everyone has a mobile phone.

When investing in an In Room Guest Wifi System and an Internet Management System, some key areas to consider: »» Can you/your guest easily connect SmartTV’s, gaming and casting devices for streaming? Guests, particularly millennials really do want to stream and view their own content on the hotel room TV. »» When your guests use a casting device eg: Chromecast ensure that your guest wifi system can isolate it on the network to each specific unit so only guests in that unit can cast to the TV. This is very important as you do not want someone in another unit being able to cast unwanted/undesirable shows onto your guests TV in a different unit. »» How often does the guest have to login through a portal? »» Can the wifi be set up the same as a home network – each device logs in once while they are at the site and receives unlimited data? Guests want a home-like TV experience in their hotel room. »» Can you throttle the speed of the connection by room to ensure you are sharing your bandwidth around fairly (remember one Ultra High Definition Stream can take 25Mbps of your bandwidth)? »» Can numerous devices be connected in each hotel room as they are at home? Families are now travelling with on average 3 devices per person that they want to connect to your wifi.

Your guests will start demanding this connectivity and service soon if they have not done so already.

Invest in the technology and infrastructure and get your site Guest Entertainment ready!

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Articles

OTA – Not just your partners or frenemies, but also teachers CS RAMACHANDRAN I CRME

I got a call asking if I knew some good Revenue Manager candidates, because the hotel wanted someone who can help them in managing rates on OTA’s like Booking.com. That made me curious and I asked him why they mentioned Booking.com specifically.. And the surprising answer was.. Booking.com produces more than any sites, including the hotel website and for no investment from our end… for free.. So that becomes the main channel. I dug in deeper asking a couple of more questions on their website and e-marketing activities, post which the below key learning points emerged.

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T

he first key point to understand is selling via any OTAs is “not free.” Let’s assume that the hotel does 100 room nights at a rate of 100 USD from all OTA’s. In such a case, the average commission paid out per year would be$24,000 (100 room nights * $100 ARR * 12 months * 20% commission). Now that’s in no way free! Compare this with the average costs of distribution via direct website channels.

Here’s what you can learn from the OTA’s, and this is in no way the final list

»» You website is your biggest asset – Review your website. Is it a responsive. How does it render on different screens ie; mobile friendly (desktop, tablets, phones). Is it multilingual and talks to your key geo? Review Website Analytics to see how you can make it better. »» Be Visible – How visible is your hotel across relevant online searches. Is the website SEO optimised? SEO is not rocketscience but a process to ensure that your hotel ranks optimally on the search engines. Your emarketing / website team can help you on same. »» Images and Videos – It may seem obvious to use the best image on your homepage. But not all hotels do it. It’s the first impression that matters. Showcase your rooms and facilities with high-resolution imagery on your website. If Content is King, then the Imagery is the Crown on top of the King. »» Offers – Give confidence to the consumer that the website offers the Best Rate. OTA’s do a great job on the Best Rate Guarantee. Promotional Offers and Value Additions are another way to offer discounts to direct customers while still following rate parity agreements, where applicable. Make your offer lucrative to the consumer with perks like wifi, breakfast, car transfers, event tickets etc. Targeted Closed Group Offers is another great way to convert direct business.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

About the Author C.S. Ramachandran, CRMEHSMAI Revenue Advisory Board Member & Director Revenue Management - South Asia, Middle East and Africa at Preferred Hotels & Resorts HSMAI roles: Ram serves on the HSMAI Revenue Advisory Board and the HSMAI India Chapter Board.

Invest in Online Marketing Spend – Bid on your key words in PCC ie; brand name, location etc. Target spends on Metasearches like Kayak, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor Check rates and Insta Bookings (Google is coming with one too). Metasearches are a great way to drive in direct bookings, and that’s a topic of discussion for another day. Fore more details on the 2014 advertising spends by leading OTA’s, click here.

Some of the above steps require investment and some just require a change in your strategy. What % of the “free business” commission ($24,000 example above) is invested by the hotel to drive in direct business? Look forward to your views.

C.S. “Ram” Ramachandran serves as Director of Revenue Account Management for Preferred Hotels & Resorts, charged with helping the brand’s member hotels maximize the effectiveness of their online distribution channels and optimise revenue through better revenue strategies. In this position, he also guides member hotels in South Asia, Middle East and Africa on e-marketing, data interpretation, and pricing strategies along with MIS, which help them, make informed business decisions.

Ram has over 20 years of rich expertise in hotel management, the majority of which has been dedicated to revenue management. His key interests include business analytics, business strategy, distribution, online marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. Prior to joining Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Ram served as Assistant Vice President of E-Marketing for The Oberoi Group, responsible for the group’s digital marketing strategy with a focus on maximizing e-commerce revenues. He is based in New Delhi.

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Articles

How else can we make a laundry pay PAUL CREEK I Creek Solutions

Running a motel. OMG the work that needs to be included! Having run a busy motel in the NSW Central West back in the 1980s, I discovered a managers “lot” was not always a happy one. A day filled with endless small tasks that needed completion, and the budget was not always there to cover it. I can get a plumber to fix a washer, the call out fee is one room night, I could get someone to mow the lawns, two room nights! And so on! And so on!

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unning a motel is often a family business where profits can be achieved through good management and all hands “on-deck” to keep costs low. There are jobs that can be managed in house with little effort; there are those that can be done cursing what a plumber would achieve in 5 minutes to my 45 long minutes, but I would grin and bear it, and those jobs, which are best outsourced.

Linen is one of those items that need to be considered. The purpose of a motel is to provide clean accommodation for a variety of different guests ranging from one-night business people, travellers passing through or short/long term holiday makers. Everyone expects clean linen.

The housekeeping and laundry processes are critical in any business that is responsible for the accommodation of the general public, be it hotels/motels, health, aged accommodation, hostels or cruise ships and the like, ensuring hygiene is well managed.

It is important for an organisation to know its business. The type of motel is to be considered and this impacts on the linen used.

A budget motel may use as little as 35 kgs of linen per week through to a busy more deluxe motel with more frequent changes saving 40-50 kgs.

The motel will invariably launder their own small items and obtain the pressed sheets from an external source. The ease of obtaining clean pressed sheets this way is a blessing, ensuring quality standards are met.

Questions are often asked about the benefits and running of an on-premise laundry (OPL). To undertake the process in-house will provide control however when outsourcing, there is a higher level of consistency due to the automation of the process. Consistency can occur in a full OPL, but this is subject to the laundry employee skills. In many laundries, the chemicals are often provided without programming, resulting in yellowing of towels.

Two factors that come into place are cost and hygiene. The location of a motel may be too remote for price efficiencies to occur and the only option is to launder in-house. The motel size

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and occupancy will determine whether an in house laundry is viable based on capital outlay.

Decisions of the laundry set up are also based on location and needs: »» Country vs Coastal (additional towels but longer stay with less bed linen change overs). »» Business vs Holiday (the latter maybe multiple people vs single rooms). »» Long vs Short Stay (regular full daily change overs increasing linen levels).

The motel or a group of motels may organise a system where a centralised process is organised to keep prices down. The varying sets of equipment that can be considered are: The varying styles of equipment will also meet the needs of the guests as well as the Motel. »» Domestic – which allows the guest to wash their own items especially if at a coastal location. »» Coin operated – with revenue going toward the cost of the equipment and utilities. »» Semi Commercial – has the advantages of durability but may not always guarantee disinfection. Chemical feed, can be managed, but not well controlled.

Note: These machines are often top loaders and use excessive water. »» Commercial (small or large). These are durable and will cater for all loads. They are programmable for automatic chemical feed and will be more accurate with water levels and cycles than the semi commercial machines.

Companies in the market providing commercial equipment sell the IPSO, Girbau, Electrolux brands. Suppliers must be involved in the commissioning and provide all the testing of the programs and equipment. This includes all the relevant training for staff and other operators. The underlying message received as a consultant

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

is to ensure reliability and service backup is always available.

Managing all the costs are critical for the bottom line. How else can we increase the profit? »» Restaurant »» Bar »» Mini Bar Another thought, a laundromat on the premise. Quite often all the services are available. Motels are part of a community and a laundromat service may fill a gap in a town with little capital outlay.

It may also be a convenient outlay. It may also be a convenient service for travellers who are also living out of a suit case.

The use of coin-operated machines assists a motel to remain efficient while providing a service to its guests.

The option is available for laundries to have laundromat function, which can double up for it’s own smaller linen. There are many regional motels and it is critical that the selection also includes the service and repair back up at average call out costs.

Typical brands are Electrolux Professional, LG Commercial, Speed Queen and many others, all with coin, card or token capabilities.

The set-up of a coin laundry is a way to manage costs.

operated machinery is made for easy use. The operators need to use minimal buttons and knobs to operate.

Sustainability is often discussed when comparing one machine to the next. There are machines that have good ratings however with good internal practices, modern machines from all suppliers with their own efficiencies and good programming, leaves very little between each of the suppliers other than the investment cost.

The best option is to obtain independent advice to ensure that calculations of throughput will match the required expectations and budget of the facility. Once the machine capacities and configuration are known, the motel can go to the market and get the best-valued machine that will do the job. Each motel has different needs, therefore careful analysis is required. The article does not discuss cost of operations in detail as each motel has different arrangements and potential outcomes would differ. All final installation requirements need to be confirmed by the supplier.

All laundry operations are based on the Australian Standards 4146:2000, which recommends correct processes and disinfection.

Paul Creek consults to the aged, health and hospitality industries throughout Australia, Asia and the South Pacific. paulcreek@creeksolutions.com.au or 0425 356 134

Many of a motel’s guests are transient workers. They may be away for up to two weeks at a time and need to keep their laundry under control.

A coin operated laundry or one attached to a room key card, provides all the convenience and assistance that is required. In any laundromat setup, it is all about location, location.

There is an opportunity to further enhance the service, value adding: 1. People don’t like laundromats or venue with coin operated machines and all that is done is watch machines go around and around!

- Make it comfortable.

- Add TV’s, USB slots, other forms of entertainment and free WIFI. - Provide coffee / tea as an additional service raiser.

2. Offer the service of pickup / drop off / ironing.

3. Ensure the area chosen is clean, warm, welcoming and comfortable, especially if it is a co-shared area, with that of the motel business.

In the motel industry, it is more likely a smaller machine will be used to suit one wash loads for example, families coming back from the beach needing to wash the towels and swimming costumes, workers or other travellers who are away from home for long periods.

The option of “do it yourself ” laundry is a WIN-WIN situation for the motel owners who will cover utility costs and provide some payback on the machinery.

The motel may also find the coin-operated machine useful for small internal laundry loads. They would not use coins but special tokens. Some brands can utilize cashless smart cards.

With the many different operators with varying skill levels, coin-

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Save money on carpet & upholstery COL NATION

A lipstick mark on a glass, or a toothpaste spot on a mirror can make a bad impression on an otherwise well presented guest room. A stain on a carpet can also detract from the overall appearance. A lippy mark or a spot on a mirror can be easily dealt with using a simple spray and wipe, but those same marks on a carpet are a lot more difficult to remove and a lot more costly to replace when you can’t remove the stains effectively.

L

ater in this article I help make it easier for your housekeeping staff to deal with many spots and spills.

Carpet and upholstery is not only porous but also three dimensional. They can also be made with a variety of materials which may be synthetic or natural. Natural fibres could be animal based as in wool or silk. It could also be vegetable fibre such as cotton, jute, hemp or linen. Synthetic fibres could be nylon, polyester, polypropylene or acrylic and then there are even variations on nylons and polyester. Some manmade fibres can be made from plant based materials. We will hear the terms Bamboo Fibre or Art Silk (meaning artificial silk) and these are mostly viscose fibres manufacturers from plant based materials. This all makes it difficult to choose the right spot removal treatment and consequently a lot of carpets are ruined by inappropriate cleaning and this can be very costly indeed.

I was working on a carpet in an upmarket hotel on the Sunshine Coast recently. It was a beautiful, high quality wool carpet. The marks on the carpet were big and black and made this upmarket hotel look anything other than upmarket. While everything else in the rooms was lovely and clean, the carpet was nothing short of an eyesore. The cost to replace a unit full of this carpet would be very expensive. The hotel was less than three years old.

What caused these marks? Some guests have had a few minor spills, but by far the worst damage was caused by the attempts by the housekeeping staff to remove these little spills. The use of the wrong type of cleaning agent caused major re-soiling problems that looked worse than the original spills, which by the way, were still visible in the middle of the damaged area.

Incorrect methods used in the spot removal can not only cause resoiling, but also irreversible physical damage to the carpet which can end up being a very expensive problem. Not only the cost of replacement of the carpet needs to be considered, but also the loss of income while the unit is out of service and the general loss of market perception of business itself by all those guests staying in that room while arrangements are made to replace the hideously stained carpet.

Carpets and upholstery “ugly out” far before they wear out. Most carpets are replaced because they simply look bad, even though they are still in good physical condition. Even a domestic rated carpet can last for many years and look good for a long time if it is maintained properly. Poor chemicals or cleaning techniques are the prime reasons that carpet or upholstery ugly out and have to be replaced.

So how do you maintain a carpet properly? Get the App. Go to the App store and download the free WoolSafe App. In this app is a guide to looking after not only wool carpet but any other fibre. If it is safe on wool then it will be safe for anything else as well.

Go to your app store, search for ‘woolsafe’, click ‘get’ and there you have it, a complete guide to carpet and upholstery maintenance.

In the app are some initial suggestions to help you, then click on the ‘Stain Guide’ button, Click “select stain.” Scroll down the wheel until you find the stain, and click ‘OK’ and it gives you a simple step by step guide to how to treat the stain.

If the stain removal fails to work you can then click on the ‘Cleaners’ button and it will bring up a map to find your nearest WoolSafe Approved Service Provider who can help you solve your problems.

A WoolSafe Approved Service Provider has been trained in the specific needs and techniques required for cleaning and maintenance of wool, and other fibre carpets and upholstery. Some are even trained in colour repair so they can often remove the dye stains and even re-colour the carpet back to the original. This can save you thousands of dollars in carpet replacement costs, not to mention the general inconvenience and loss of income while replacing carpet that is otherwise in good physical condition. Even cigarette burns can be re-tufted by some specialist technicians. You can find this help, and more on the WoolSafe website www.woolsafe.org So all is not lost when you come across those nasty looking spots and spills that detract from your overall image. With a little bit of practice, common sense, good WoolSafe Approved cleaning products, and a bit of know how, you will be able to easily deal with the majority of those annoying spots that guests may cause and this can save you thousands of dollars.

Col Nation is the Director of the WoolSafe Organisation for Australia and New Zealand. He has over 35 years experience in dealing with carpet problems and is a WoolSafe Registered Inspector and travels all over Australia finding solutions for carpet related problems. Colin is also an experienced industry trainer and can help train your staff on how to get the most from your carpet.

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Articles

Common hotel plastics – The phase out begins!

MARK THOMSON I eco Architect

Plastic has become controversial due to its negative impacts on the environment, biodiversity, and human health. Most plastic does not naturally biodegrade in the environment. Instead it breaks down into small particles (micro-plastics). These particles may negatively impact human health, releasing toxins into the food chain and poisoning wildlife and marine life. Micro-plastics in our waste water originate from many cosmetic products including, but not limited to toothpaste, creams, shower gels and peelings. The washing of polymer textile clothing and fabrics used in the hotel sector also contributes significantly to micro-plastics finding their way into our waterways and environment.

W

e are now witnessing a global campaign against single use plastics.

Hotel, motels and restaurants can be particularly plastic-intensive. Leaders in the accommodation industry have implemented single use plastic bans for years, however now the larger chains are catching up. Four Seasons Hotels and resorts announced a ban on plastic straws from all of their 110 properties in April, whilst Anantara Hotels will remove straws by the end of 2018. Accor Hotels in America have already prohibited straws. 98 Indian-based Taj Hotels will phase out plastic straws from in-room dining this year also. Straws are described as the “low hanging fruit” and many other plastics in hotels are likely to be targeted in the future.

Marriott’s upmarket Edition Hotels plan to eliminate single use plastics by 2019, whilst some of its other hotel brands will phase out mini-plastic shampoo bottles with wall mounted dispensers replacing them. Changes proposed by Marriott may eliminate 10.4 million plastic bottles, demonstrating the enormous influence hotel chains can implement.

Smaller motels can also make a real impact by also implementing the above.

Regular hotel guest offerings such as bathroom amenities, bags for slippers or clothing and minibar items can be replaced with alternative materials such as glass, compostable cardboard or renewable plant based materials. Items such as toothbrushes bins and even bin bags can be economically replaced now with bio plastic solutions, that are renewable and biodegradable. An Australian company, “Biolastics” will soon release products and design solutions aimed to transform local options and provide alternatives to common fossil fuel plastics.

Accommodation building products including wall coverings, vinyl flooring and non-recyclable carpets may follow, with these already identified in green building rating tools as materials having significant environmental impacts.

Previously “recycling” has been identified as a good environmental solution for plastics. Recent media stories have highlighted that this practice has not had widespread implementation locally, with most materials being sent overseas.

Recycling can be complex and not profitable because of multiple realities in the Australian marketplace. Contamination by other materials can be an issue, accessibility to collection infrastructure and hygiene, health and safety issues add to the costs and viability of recycling in Australia.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/travel/straw-bans-hotelsresorts.html https://phys.org/news/2017-06-microplastics-machine.html#jCp https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5766707/https:// www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/9014ac31-f832-48bd85b9-f02d8ef70fbe/files/vinyl-council.pdf

About the Author Mark Thomson is an eco Architect with qualifications from the GBCA and Earthcheck organisations.

He has over 30 years experience in the Australian design, development and construction industry. He has built and refurbished multiple hotel projects around Australia and was co-owner of a national hotel chain up until 2005. His current business Eco Effective Solutions is based in Brisbane.

Watch out for the rapid uptake of Bio Plastics and be part of the transformational change now underway to address our polluted waterways and oceans.

www.ecoeffective.com.au mark@ecoeffective.com.au

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Articles

How to choose the right bedding partner for your motel PETER DEVENY I AH Beard

The bed. Often regarded as just the biggest thing in the room, it is, along with fast free wifi and a great shower, the most important to the guest. After all, it’s the one thing in your room that you can guarantee that the guest will touch!

S

o, what should you be looking for when you are purchasing new beds and just as importantly who should you be buying from?

Let’s address the second point. Australia is blessed with manufacturers who produce some of the best quality mattresses in the world. Our raw materials are consistently better, healthier and more durable than anything you will get from a cheap, imported product. So talk with manufacturers who have specialist commercial sales teams, they understand the challenges and pitfalls that can be encountered in the selection process and should help make things clearer for you, not more confusing. Make sure that the mattresses you are considering are manufactured here, from locally produced foams. This is critical to the health and comfort of your guests and to the long term value of your investment.

Foams made here in Australia are subject to controls that mean that potentially toxic additives such as formaldehyde and other harmful chemicals are eliminated from the manufacturing process.

They also include treatments to inhibit mould, mildew and other allergens to make them healthy, clean and safe.

Foams made elsewhere, typically in Asia, do not always have the same controls and health considerations and to the naked eye you can’t tell the difference. You will notice the difference in a few years though when these inferior foams start to break down much quicker than locally made ones and your guest start to complain about your hard, lumpy beds!

Don’t be fooled by terms like “Product of Australia”, “Designed in Australia” or “Assembled in Australia” Make sure your mattresses are MADE in Australia, using only locally made foams.

Now, what should you be looking for in beds for your business?

The answer to this is pretty simple in one sense, buy the best quality you can afford!

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Technology in mattress manufacture has developed significantly over the past few years, and along with improvements in the manufacturing process, you get much more for your money than 10 years ago. This means that regardless of where you are positioned in terms of rating, you can afford good quality beds.

There are also finance options, such as leasing your beds just like you do with other capital equipment in your property, means that you can buy a “5 star” bed for as little as 50c a day !

The majority of Global hotel chains specify Pocket Spring type support systems as their support system. Pocket springs will provide a supportive, but conforming foundation for the rest of the mattress to do its job. They will allow for much less partner disturbance, so everyone gets a good night’s sleep! It’s the premier support system of the bedding industry and is much more affordable now that ever.

Technically advanced comfort layers like Latex and Memory Foam are incredibly comfortable and, in the case of Latex, extremely durable so the extra investment to include these will mean that not only will you have a bed that guests will dream about, it should also last longer.

How long should my beds last?

This is a frequently asked question when we are talking to hotels who are either looking to purchase new beds, or starting to see some negative feedback on their current beds.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

few minutes once every 3 months can save you the inconvenience and cost of having to put a room out of service and buy a new base.

Mattress Cleaning Just like anything your guests come into contact with, cleanliness and hygiene of your mattresses is important. A regular programme of either steam cleaning or Oxygen sanitising is a great way to keep your mattresses clean, smelling fresh and reduce the incidence of airborne allergens.

The short answer is, that like most things, the better quality you buy in the first instance, the longer their serviceable life will be.

There are of course a few provisos to this and the key one is how well they are maintained. Things like cleanliness, regular rotation and checking and maintaining the condition and structural integrity of the base is vital to preserving the life and performance of any mattress.

So, let’s talk about quality. Always ask about the construction of the bed; what is the support system in the mattress? Are the foams Australian made and treated to resist mould, mildew and allergens? Is the base construction a commercial quality, timber platform that will resist bending and will it provide a stable, consistent support for the mattress?

If you need to spot clean, avoid using harsh chemical treatments as these will often degrade the foams and fabrics of your mattress. Again, steam cleaning is the best method to remove those red wine stains and “biological contamination” marks that occasionally appear.

While we are on this subject, ALWAYS invest in good quality mattress and pillow protectors for your rooms. The cost is insignificant in comparison to having to replace a mattress because it is it irretrievably stained or damaged and they will help to preserve the life of your mattress, so they pay for themselves several times over.

These are all key questions you should have answered as part of your decision process.

A regular, programmed maintenance programme for your beds is vital. Just like all of the key operating equipment in your hotel, they need some TLC to make sure they keep performing at their peak. The key items to consider are these:

Mattress Rotation More and more we are seeing hotels choose mattress construction that are Single Sided, or “No Need To Turn”. These still need to be rotated head to foot on a regular basis to distribute wear evenly and maximise the life of the foams and other comfort fills in your mattress. Fail to do it and you will finish up with a mattress with body impressions on the side that gets more use. It’s recommended for this to happen once every quarter, and the process is pretty simple. Just pick the mattress up off the base and rotate it 180 degrees, so that the head end becomes the foot.

RELAX

Base Maintenance At the same time as you are rotating your mattress, check your base for any damage, soiling and most importantly check that all of the fittings or legs are intact and screwed tightly into the frame. Look for fittings that are loose or bent, and also check that all of the wheels or castors are intact. Loose or damaged fittings, along with unruly guests, are the main reason for damage to bases. This damage is generally NOT a warranty issue as it is caused usually by the fittings being loose and then damaging either the base frame or the threads that the fittings attach to. A

Let your guests relax with Dometic MiniBars and Safes.

For product information, visit dometic.com or call 07 5507 6073.

180923

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Articles

Hospitality, sustainability,

and you EMMA BERTHOLD I Good Environmental Choice Australia

Sustainability is an increasingly important part of doing business in the hospitality industry, particularly since 21% of global carbon dioxide emissions from the tourism sector can be attributed solely to accommodation.

Thankfully, many hotels are embracing opportunities to incorporate initiatives ranging from linen and towel re-use programs to obtaining third-party green certification across their operations.

R

ecent research by Deloitte (“Hospitality 2015: Game changers or spectators?”) has shown there is a growing customer preference for green hotels, with 95% of business travellers surveyed for the research indicating that they believe the hotel industry should be undertaking green initiatives. There has also been a general increase in consumer preference for sustainable products across multiple industries. The demand for sustainable products and services is there – and hotels are adopting “green” practices in response.

However, are these efforts effective? Are hotel and motel owners taking full advantage of the opportunities available to them to ensure that their approach to sustainability will benefit their business, as well as the environment?

Although sustainability is seen as an important factor in decisionmaking processes for hotel owners and managers, it’s not yet fully entrenched in business thinking. Sustainability must be addressed from a holistic perspective, encompassing technology, people, business models, physical assets, operational practices, and financial efficiency. It needs to be embraced across all levels of the organisation and throughout the entire life of the building, from the beginning of construction and interior fit-outs to the ongoing operational procedures.

This presents a challenge to owners and managers who want to do the right thing, but may not know where to start, particularly as more green regulations are introduced into the industry and achieving operational efficiency becomes more difficult.

The publication of the new ISO20400 International Procurement Guidance standard brings some welcome guidance to procurement professionals across many industries, including the hospitality sector. The standard outlines the factors that must be taken into account when developing and implementing a sustainable procurement policy, which will then govern all the purchasing decisions of an organisation.

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What does this mean for cleaning product manufacturers and service providers seeking to engage further with clients in the hospitality sector?

ISO20400 emphasises principles such as transparency, accountability, and ethical behaviour for suppliers. Manufacturers and service providers looking to stand out from their competitors will need to find new ways of communicating their sustainability credentials to potential clients, ensuring that any sustainability claims are genuine and verifiable.

Third-party sustainability certification programmes, such as GECA, can provide this extra layer of trust. The GECA ecolabel on your product or service indicates that your company is having a positive environmental, health and social impact, and this provides an important demonstration of the credibility of your claims.

As competition grows in the green hotels sector, managers will need to look for new ways to meet their sustainability goals and ensure that they are engaging with suppliers whose goals are aligned with their own. This is particularly important for hotel owners who are working with independent organisations to validate and communicate their sustainability credentials, such as obtaining EarthCheck certification, or TripAdvisor’s Green Leaders program.

Cleaning product manufacturers and service providers who have a lower environmental, health and social impact across their operations – especially those who can prove it with third-party certification – are well-placed to engage with an industry that is realising the importance of going green.

NSW 1/35 Bryant Street Padstow NSW 2211 02 9774 8888

VIC 18 Leo Court Derrimut VIC 3030 03 8353 7800

QLD 6B/400 Bilsen Road Geebung QLD 4034 07 3865 4522

SA 838 South Road Edwardstown SA 5039 08 8297 3055

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Articles

Carpet encapsulation cleaning minimises carpet downtime BRIAN CLARK

Encapsulation cleaning has been used by carpet cleaning professionals for over 20 years as a quick-dry alternative to extraction cleaning for interim maintenance. Encapsulation systems are generally much faster than water extraction methods. Dry times can be as little as 20-60 minutes, which makes it ideal for Hospitality room refreshment and emergency spot removal on fabric upholstery and carpet.

What is Encapsulation and how does it work?

E

ncapsulation cleans deep down and gives exceptional results in most circumstances. An Encapsulating chemical contains a special polymer that works with the detergent system to break down and surround the soil and other detergent residues from previous cleaning. Within minutes of application, the polymer begins to drive off the moisture and dries into a hard, non-sticky crystal, encasing the soil and the detergent residues.

The dried crystals are removed by using an upright vacuum in the daily vacuuming process. The result is carpet that is clean and dry, often within an hour of cleaning. Best of all, properly formulated encapsulation chemical does not promote resoiling.

Encapsulation Equipment There are three types of equipment that may be suitable for Encapsulation cleaning of carpet.

1) Dual cylindrical brush applicators – this style of machine utilises dual Counter Rotating cylindrical brushes. The brushes contain soft to medium bristles that are purpose designed for cleaning carpets. Encapsulation detergent may be applied by onboard solution tanks or by pre-spraying the area to be cleaned.

2) Multi-directional multiple brush applicator – This style of machine uses three Rotating smaller brush heads mounted on a contra-rotating planetary drive disc. Multidirectional counter rotation action of brushes on carpet opens the pile and generates foaming action of the Encapsulation detergent deep within the carpet pile.

3) Single disc slow speed rotary machine – 150-250 rpm single brush scrubbers fitted with a soft bristle carpet brush.

Encapsulation chemical is applied either by on-board solution tanks or pre-spraying immediately prior to and during machining.

Use of bonnet systems is not recommended for Encapsulation and may void carpet warranty in some instances. Always check with carpet manufacturers prior to utilising any form of scrubbing action on carpet.

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Multidirectional brushes designed for encapsulation ensure even distribution of the encapsulation chemical and lift and straighten the pile which improves appearance retention, Soil and detergent residues are enclosed in a non-sticky polymer coating and are removed by vacuuming the area thoroughly after the carpet has dried.

Picture credit: Truvox International.

Safety Considerations Encapsulation offers significant occupational health advantages to both workers and building occupants when compared to traditional hose and wand extraction. For a start, noise levels are significantly reduced – the encapsulation process is whisper quiet. For technicians, the repetitive movement involved in using a hose and wand system is eliminated. The need to lift heavy buckets when filling the machines is minimised and workers are not exposed to dirty waste water simply because there isn’t any – all the dirt and detergent residues are locked up in an inert crystalline shell.

When encapsulation is properly applied, carpets generally dry much faster than water extraction, which means rapid room availability and the chance of slip by water from wet carpet being walked onto adjacent hard floor is all but eliminated.

Environmental Considerations An encapsulation system combined with traditional Hot Water Extraction for deep cleaning can dramatically reduce water & energy consumption in your facility compared to existing hose and wand extraction only processes.

As can be seen on the chart below Encapsulation’s fast cleaning and rapid dry times mean that less energy is used in the cleaning process but more importantly energy costs for after-hours lighting, heating and ventilation can be dramatically reduced as access is only required for a very short time compared to standard carpet maintenance systems.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Used properly, the encapsulation process will lower labour costs minimise downtime by extending deep cleaning cycles and save thousands of litres of water every time you clean. The time to actually maintain carpeted surfaces is reduced resulting in reduced energy costs less downtime of rooms and function areas and greater use of the facility by the occupants.

Est. Energy (Kw) use per 1000 m2 (machine)

12.8

9.2

14.8

28.0

Est. Lighting & Ventilation requirements to clean hrs/1000m

5.3

3.8

1.6

11.6

Estimated Water usage lt/1000m2

60

60-90

1110

1500

Estimated Waste Water Generation L/1000 m2

0

0

800

1050

Carpets will stay cleaner longer and the need to deep extract is reduced dramatically in most circumstances. Most of all your customers – the building occupants and users – will be happy with the consistently clean appearance of the carpets in the building.

Production rate (ISSA) m2/hr

190

260

159

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Encapsulation cannot be used to extract spillages, bodily fluids or water from carpets.

Labour time / 100 m2

32 Mins

23 Mins

37 Mins

70 Mins

Estimated Productivity, Water and energy Consumption estimates - Carpet Encapsulation Vs Carpet Extraction

Water consumption is slashed. Traditional 400 psi hose and wand equipment can use more than 1500 litres of water to clean 1000 sq. metres. With encapsulation you can use as little as 60 litres per 1000 sq metres, depending on the equipment, soil levels and operator skills, saving more than 1400 litres of water and completely eliminating recovered solution going into the sewerage solution as all the residue dries to a crystal and is extracted by as a dry particle by vacuuming.

Encapsulation, when used as an interim maintenance system to supplement water extraction, can provide good cleaning results and the benefits, including quick dry carpets, may enable carpet and upholstery cleaning to be performed between room changes and even between functions.

Disclaimer: Production rates are indicative, based on generic ISSA cleaning times. Energy usage, cleaning outcomes, water consumption and dry time can vary considerably based on soil type, soil density, the properties of the cleaning chemical, chemical dilution rates, equipment type, operator skills, temperature, relative humidity and other factors. Some carpet manufacturers may not approve encapsulation systems – always check with the carpet manufacturer guidelines prior to using any carpet cleaning chemical or system.

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Articles

Are Contract staff a waste of money?

You might be surprised by the answer NICOLE EVANS

We asked Nicole Evans of Brisan Hospitality Consulting for her views.

O

4. We also looked at the indirect costs of employing employees over contractors in this scenario.

Many small businesses work on tight margins and will often choose cost over quality of production output. However, it is valuable to look at figures and scenarios carefully, to consider when it is perhaps advantageous to consider an employee over a contractor and vice versa.

The Outcome:

ne of the biggest questions we get asked as accounting and payroll specialists in the hospitality sector, is ‘Should we employ ‘employees’ or ‘independent contractors?’ Despite the legal fundamentals a business owner must consider if they are employing an ‘Employee’ or ‘Contractor,’ business owners and operators must also look at the advantages and disadvantages of each type of “worker” and determine the best ‘fit’ for their business.

Case Study: Employee v. Contractor The Customer: Brisan Hospitality Consulting, recently completed an analysis of staffing costs of a hotel with adjoining accommodation.

The Scope of our Analysis: 1. With the accommodation to consider we looked at the current costs the hotel was spending on employing staff to work every day to clean the public areas of the hotel and to service the motel rooms.

2. We then asked for prices from three contract cleaning companies to get an idea of pricing structures, enabling us to compare “apples with apples.”

3. To do these comparisons we also had to factor in employee costs such as WorkCover, Superannuation and employee entitlements (e.g. leave entitlements), even though the cleaner’s employment status was ‘casual.’ After all, even casual workers fall sick or go on holiday so there must be a substitute while that employee cannot work.

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5. Lastly, we ensured that all peripheral costs were also considered. If a business has cleaners on their payroll, invariably that business must also pay for all the cleaning chemicals which can prove to be costly. Many cleaning contract companies bring in their own equipment and chemicals, leaving the business to carry small quantities and minimal equipment for every-day uses.

With these factors to consider as well as ensuring the business owner was not breaching the Fair Work conditions of “Employee Vs. Independent Contractor,” it was concluded that while the hourly rate of a cleaning contractor was higher than the pay rate of an employee, there were little if any additional costs associated with hiring a contract company.

Nor was there the “headache” of having to ensure constant re-ordering of chemicals, maintenance of equipment as well as the general requirements of managing staff. The business owner not only knew the exact costs associated for cleaning the hotel on an hourly basis, they had also engaged the work with a reputable cleaning company specialising in hospitality.

This led to quality output of work because the contractors knew exactly what areas to focus on, and also greater customer satisfaction with an increase in positive reviews online from hotel guests due to cleanliness and ‘attention to detail.’

This simple yet effective change not only increased occupancy rates for accommodation it also had a flow on effect with an increase in the food and drink service areas of the hotel.

Although this scenario paints a positive picture for independent contractors, there still remains advantages for

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3-hour Health Check $275 + GST for The Australian Motel Owners Journal readers Select any of the following areas for your Health Check

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employing staff. You have loyalty (well, most business owners would like to think so!), you can train your staff to your requirements, and often employees will work diligently if there is good management of staff and perhaps incentives such as bonuses, promotions, etc.

Business owners and operators should not just look at the monetary costs associated with employing employees over independent contractors (& vice versa).Comparing both

t 08 8235 1594 www.brisan.com.au info@brisan.com.au

options for each individual situation, and determining the scenario that best fits with their business model and work culture is important, to enhance the overall profitability and sustainability of the business.

If you are interested in more information about assessing the viability of contractors versus employees in your motel, please visit our website at www.brisan.com.au and send us a message, or call us on 08 8235 1594.

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Articles

Ceramic and Stone Flooring Care

T

he most commonly used tiles are ceramic and porcelain which are made in completely different ways but are often confused.

Ceramic Ceramic tiles have a durable surface glaze which carries the pattern and colour, below which is softer material often of a different colour.

Porcelain Porcelain tiles are much denser, harder and are highly water resistant. The hardness and the colour normally go all the way through, so chips and damage are much less likely and if they do occur are less visible.

Care and cleaning of ceramic and porcelain tiled floors As with all flooring, the best care is regular care. Vacuum at least once a week, more often for heavily used areas. A combination of grease, moisture, dust and fluff can turn into unpleasant grime if they are not efficiently removed. If the tiles are uneven, textured, or have wide grout gaps it is essential to vacuum with a combination head or parquet brush.

High gloss High gloss tiles can be polished with either standard or diamond pads, but avoid polishing uneven tiles as only the high points are polished. If tiles are used in a “wet� area of the home, they tend to be subject to different spills and spots. Mopping with hot water and a mild household detergent should remove most stains. If the stain remains stubborn, you can use a soft brush or synthetic scouring pad to loosen the spot, but do not use steel wool or a metal brush, as these may scratch the surface of the tiles. After washing a tile floor, be sure to thoroughly rinse the

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floor with clean water. This will remove any detergent residue from setting and attracting more dirt to your floor.

Grout Although the tiles themselves may be impervious, the grouting between them is susceptible to staining as it is porous. To prevent staining use a good quality grout seal. Alternatively, if the grout becomes stained or discoloured, it can be brightened by a good cleaning with diluted bleach. Use the edge of a sponge or a toothbrush for this job, and be careful to keep the bleach solution away from other surfaces. Alternatively seek a specific grout cleaner.

Terracotta Terracotta tiles do not have a surface glaze and so are highly porous. Without adequate sealing they will soak up stains and fail to be the beautiful floor they have the potential to be. They are also quite delicate, so should be cleaned with care. Seek advice when you buy the tiles about the best sealants and cleaners and consider using a professional for restoration and sealing of older floor.

Natural stone floors A number of different stone types are used for flooring. Granite is the most hard-wearing and water resistant. Other stone types commonly used are marble, limestone and sandstone. Slate is often used in kitchens and bathrooms because of its water resistant properties, but has an uneven surface which means it must be vacuumed with a combination head or parquet brush.

Porous stone should be sealed with an appropriate sealer.

Smooth, gloss natural stone floors such as marble can easily be maintained to a high standard using a polisher fitted with a diamond pad.

This article is courtesy of SEBO.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Understanding commercial linen There is a retail mythology in buying linen which relates to the quality of sheet being determined by the thread count or threads per inch.

F

irstly what does thread count mean? – It is a measure of the coarseness or fineness of a fabric, It is measured by counting the number of threads contained in one square inch of fabric or one square centimetre, including both the length (Warp) and width (Weft) threads. The thread count is the number of threads counted along two sides (up and across) of the square inch, added together; it is especially used in bed sheeting.

There is a common misconception that thread count is an important consideration when purchasing bedding. However, linen experts claim that beyond a thread count of 600, there’s no difference in quality. The amount of thread that can fit into a square inch of fabric is limited, suggesting that bedding beyond 800 counts is likely a marketing strategy.

Commercial bedding = need to use Thicker yarns/threads Domestic bedding (Retail) = Finer/ thinner yarns/threads The world’s cotton comes from genetically modified (GM) seed, China & India produce the majority of the world’s cotton, they purchase the remaining cotton from America & Pakistan, who produce the best cotton to use for our commercial hospitality industry.

Pictures below are diagrams of pulling threads apart to count more within the square inch, to be able to market the sheet with a higher thread count:

INDUSTRY STANDARDS Thread count is often used as a measure of fabric quality, so that “standard” cotton thread counts are around 150, while good-quality sheets start at 180 and a count of 200 or higher is considered percale.

What determines commercial sheets? – The yarns used, the construction of the sheet and using the equal yarns in both the warp & the weft – makes the sheet stronger A standard yarn used in commercial sheets is 20s or 21s – the higher the yarn number (20s), the finer the yarn, for instance, to produce a sateen quality satin stripe top sheet, most use a 40s yarn.

Trickery of some retailers, they can describe a sheet with a higher thread count as being a finer sheet. Some people could be misinformed on this terminology of what finer really means. One could assume the word finer means luxury or improved, however the word finer in regards to thread counts often just means thinner, and is completely unrelated to quality. Higher thread count = finer yarns/ threads.

To determine the difference, we look at the weight of a sheet.

Weight is important. A good commercial bed sheet should weigh between 155-180 grams.

Article courtesy of Bev Martin Textiles.

It is important to remember that commercial linen does get a harder workout and each time a sheet is laundered, some of the fibres can get lost which contributes to the wear and tear factor.

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advertorial motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Does your facility need a helping hand with hand hygiene?

Even if they appear clean, your hands can be a vehicle for spreading potentially deadly foodborne illnesses or infections. To reduce the transmission of pathogens, proper regular hand care is key.

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n order to make hand hygiene more convenient, Diversey is proud to introduce the award winning IntelliCare® Hybrid Hand Care Dispenser, featuring the industry’s first hybrid automatic hand care dispenser with both touchless and manual activation.

A Helping Hand with IntelliCare With IntelliCare, employees can easily perform hand hygiene at key moments, thereby protecting themselves, customers and your organisation’s reputation.

IntelliCare offers numerous benefits, including: Flexibility. The hybrid dispenser range uses patented technology which allows a seamlessly shift from touchless to manual mode, delivering uninterrupted hand hygiene, even when the batteries deplete.

Assurance. The long-lasting battery functions for up to one and a half years and supports around 90,000 dosing actions between replacements and IntelliCare actually assists staff in ensuring hand care dispensers are always full and functioning by providing low content and battery alerts.

Intelligent Design. The dispensers incorporate a large window to enable at-a-glance product and content level and product identification. With an ingenious nozzle designed to prevent clogging and dripping to reduce maintenance requirements and wastage.

Sustainability. Soft Care® pouches collapse from the back to maintain visibility and empty fully to reduce waste. The tamper-proof design prevents contamination and enables easy and quick replacement. All materials are fully-recyclable in the IntelliCare range.

The Future. IntelliCare will be connected to Diversey’s Internet of Clean platform. This connects machines, dispensers, sensors, beacons and other smart devices to enable remote monitoring of key processes.

IntelliCare Winner of the 2018 ISSA Award for Dispensing To find out more about IntelliCare Dispensers contact our friendly Customer Service Team on 1800 647 779 or email aucustserv@diversey.com Diversey has been, and always will be, a pioneer and facilitator for life. We constantly deliver revolutionary cleaning and hygiene technologies that provide total confidence to our customers across all of our global sectors. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, Diversey employs approximately 9,000 people globally, generating net sales of approximately $2.6 billion in 2017.

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Compatibility. IntelliCare can accommodate liquid/gel and foam products, allowing facilities to customise product selection based on environment, site or user needs.

Cost Control. The IntelliCare system offers dual dosing capability.

By selecting low or high dose mode, depending on the setting and application, operators can optimise product usage for the best-possible combination of hygiene compliance and cost control. The high dose mode is ideal for back-of-house applications where users are likely to be experienced and trained in relevant hand hygiene procedures. The low dose mode is generally more suited to front-of-house applications where users are less experienced and believe a larger amount of product helps ensure better hand hygiene. By keeping a lower dose setting in this environment businesses can work to significantly reduce cost in use.

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Articles

Preserving lower back physiology for a healthier cleaning industry DR DENIS BOULAIS I DR TAMARA SZTYNDA I A/PROF SARA LAL I A/PROF CHRISTOPHER ZASLAWSKI

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n 2001, I commenced employment as a risk manager in the cleaning industry. For well over a decade of managing safety and workers compensation, it become apparent that lower back injury was the most significant injury related issue. As such, I developed a strong interest in developing more effective risk control strategies to reduce lower back injury and improve return to work outcomes in the cleaning industry.

A few years back, I commenced another PhD researching prevention of lower back injury within the cleaning industry with my research team of Dr Tamara Sztynda and Associate Professors Chris Zaslawski and Sara Lal, through the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS). The research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

According to Safe Work Australia statistics, lower back conditions are the most frequent cause of disability in the working population where eight out ten people will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives. Spinal discs commence degeneration as early as the second decade of life (Benoist, 2003). Commencing around the age of 25 in most people, males start to lose 0.3% of bone mass per year and females lose 0.5% bone mass per year which can increase up to 5-6% throughout menopause (Bono and Einhorn, 2003).

According to Safe Work Australia, the cleaning industry has one of the highest frequencies of serious musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at 15,115 recorded over a 5 year period. Furthermore, the lower back is the most commonly recorded outcome of serious MSD at 35%, hence a study of lower back injury within the cleaning industry is well justified (Safework Australia, 2016). As my PhD study enters its advanced stages, in this article I plan to highlight some key findings of the study.

Time in shift of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) occurrence A total of 144 MSDs that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. A total of 76 of 144 (52.78%) MSD’s occurred within the first two hours of a shift suggesting

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that time of MSD occurrence within a shift is a significant factor and that preventative strategies such as pre-start warm up may be recommended. According to the literature, warm up and stretching programs can reduce the risk of MSD (Woods et al, 2007). I note that it is important that any pre-start warm up and stretching program be developed and overseen by a human movement professional.

The figure below demonstrates the time within a shift most MSDs occurred.

MSD Frequency v Time in shift 80 70 MSD Frequency

Introduction

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Hours 1-2

Hours 3-4 Hours 5-6 Hours into Shift

Hours 7-8

Season of the year of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) occurrence A total of 144 MSDs that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. According to the literature, MSDs occur in the colder seasons of the year due to the colds effect on muscles (Lloyd, 1994). Hence, it was originally speculated that most MSD would occur in winter due to lifting cold. However, the higher frequency of MSD’s occurred in summer at 44 of 144 MSD (30.56%) suggesting that heat may result in fatigue which may then result in MSD’s. This suggests that hydration is an important factor for cleaners in order to reduce MSD risk and this should be focused upon during manual handling training.

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

The figure below demonstrates the season of the year most MSDs occurred.

MSD Frequency

MSD Frequency v Seasons of the year 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

MSD Frequency

44 34

32

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in terms of their being lower back or non-lower back related.

By non-lower back related I mean a shoulder or knee strain etc.

Further research then demonstrated that older cleaners (over the age of 45) had less lower back related MSD suggesting they may be more educated in protection of their lower backs or may have injured their lower backs previously. This suggests that whilst training in correct lifting is important, there should ideally be a stronger focus upon the younger less than 45 years of age group.

Risk control strategy engaged

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Spring

44

34

32

34

Seasons of the Year

Age and musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) diagnosis – lower back or non-lower back A total of 144 MSDs that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. There was a strong statistical relationship identified between the age of cleaners and MSDs

A total of 144 musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. It is important to identify and assess hazards and then control them. Sometimes however preventative pre-injury risk control measures fail, and incident investigations implement risk control strategies. It was identified that the most common risk control strategy engaged as a result of incident investigations was that of training on 124 of 144 occasions (86.11%).

This is likely due its ease of implementation and the well documented training record trail it presents. Using lifting as an example, in training it is important to not only demonstrate a lift it is important to watch one correctly carry out a lift (competency

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based training). According to the literature, competencybased training is well suited to those of non-English speaking background common in the cleaning industry (Jungbauer et al, 2004). Managers need to understand the concept of competency based training, risk control, what risk management tools they have available, and how to apply them in the field.

Recovery from injury A total of 144 musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. This study identified that 110 of the 144 MSD (76.39%) recovered from their MSD within 4 weeks. This was a good outcome as according to the literature, 60-70% of people recover within 6 weeks and 80-90% by 12 weeks. Recovery after 12 weeks is slow and uncertain with only half of those unfit for greater than 12 months returning to work and after two years the recovery chances are close to zero (Andersson, 1999).

Statistical relationships were identified between age and recovery time, confirming that older cleaners do take longer to recover from injury. This information should ideally be focused upon when developing return to work programs post injury to enhance recovery and reduce workers compensation premium costs.

According to the Australian Faculty of Occupational Medicine, fast return to work significantly benefits recovery (Australian Faculty of Occupational Medicine, 2015). As such, functionally specific return to work programs should be a primary business focus.

hazards. »» The steps within the lifting process. »» The fact that manual handling isn’t about just weight – frequency and duration of manual handling activity must also be considered during risk assessment.

This outcome basically highlights the importance of periodic refresher competency-based training in safety. This is particularly the case with manual handling and slips, trips and falls, as these two hazards most commonly lead to lower back injury.

Conclusion The main aim of the study was to identify, assess and control hazards within the cleaning industry with a view to reducing injury and improving injury recovery times. The four main recommendations to arise from the study were for cleaning organisation’s to consider: »» Functional pre-start warm up strategies. »» A more focused competency-based training approach. »» More functionally based return to work programs. »» Pre-employment strategies to reduce future risks.

References Pre-existing injury impacts on business A total of 144 musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that were recorded over a 5 year period in a large organisation were analysed. This study focused upon those MSDs that recorded the existence of a non-disclosed pre-existing MSD related injury or condition and later claimed a work-related aggravation, exacerbation, reoccurrence or deterioration, of their pre-existing condition. The research identified that 31 of 144 MSD (21.53%) were demonstrated to have a pre-existing element and 100% of claims with a pre-existing element were not disclosed preemployment. Furthermore, statistical relationships were identified where these claims resulted in higher claims costs and poor recovery times. These findings should encourage cleaning organisations to consider their pre-employment strategies in future to ensure new employees are not placed at risk by cleaning tasks.

Cleaner knowledge of manual handling A total of 220 cleaners were surveyed regarding their knowledge of manual handling. The following outcomes were noted where cleaners may benefit from refresher training in: »» Manual handling hazard identification and assessment. »» The benefits of using a figure of eight mopping movement. »» The benefits of emptying vacuum bags after each use. »» The importance of identifying and controlling slip, trip and fall

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Andersson, G. B. J. 1999. Epidemiological features of chronic low-back pain.

Lancet. 354: 581-85.

Australian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2015.

Helping people return to work. Using evidence for better outcomes. A position statement. Australian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. pp1-40.

Benoist, M. 2003. Natural history of the aging spine. European Spine Journal. 12:4-8.

Bono, C. M., and T. A. Einhorn. 2003. Overview of osteoporosis: pathophysiology and determinants of bone strength. European Spine Journal. 12:8-13.

Jungbauer, F. H. W., J. Van der Harst, M. L. Schuttlaar, J. W. Groothoff, and P. J. Coenraads. 2004. Characteristics of wet work in the cleaning industry.

Journal of Contact Dermatitis. 51:131 -134.

Lloyd, E.L. 1994. Temperature and Performance I: Cold. BMJ. 309:531-534.

Safe Work Australia. 2016. Statistics on Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders.1-12pp (Access date 03.01.17). https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1702/ statistics_on_work-related_musculoskeletal_disorders.pdf.

Woods, K., P. Bishop, and E. Jones. 2007. Warm-up and stretching in the prevention of muscular injury. Journal of Sports Medicine. 37:1089 – 1099.

advertorial motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Housekeepers and the prevention of back injury

A recent worldwide study led by the University of Sydney has proven that lower back pain is the most commonly recorded of workplace injuries. Often both severe and costly, back injuries can arise from a number of ergonomic exposures including heavy lifting, forceful movement, awkward positions and poor workspace set up. In Australia alone, back pain costs around $4.8 billion each year for health care, with 25% of sufferers in the 18-55 age group taking 10 or more days off per year.

A

key concern of the Dorsal Boutique Hotel owner, John Koorey, was the number of housekeepers who sustained back injuries in the hotel industry. In response Mr. Koorey developed the Ezi-Maid Bed Lifting System to improve the ergonomics of one of the housekeepers’ main duties, bed making.

The bed lifting system is designed to fit under the bed and to elevate the bed to a safe and comfortable height allowing the housekeeper to work in an upright stance, eliminating the need for bending and stretching. In addition to being raised, the bed is moved away from the wall, giving all round access without pushing or pulling the bed.

Safe Work Australia awarded the Ezi-Maid Bed Lifting System a National Safe Work Award as an innovative solution to an identified workplace health and safety issue and stated that

the bed lifter is a “great demonstration of ‘engineering out’ of a problem with the potential to set new standards for the future of the hospitality industry”. The Ezi-Maid Bed Lifting System has now been installed around the world, across a variety of motels, hotels, luxury resorts and health care facilities.

It has been over ten years since the first Ezi-Maid Bed Lifting System was installed at the Dorsal Boutique Hotel and the same bed lifters are still in operation today. Over that time, Mr. Koorey reports that the hotel’s housekeepers have not recorded any manual handling incidences or back injuries. He considers that all workers have the right to a healthy and safe working environment and any measures designed to achieve this should be a standard across their respective industries.

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65

Pools

Don’t let your guests have the holiday from hell because of the pool Guests should be able to enjoy a cocktail by the pool, not feel like they’re swimming in one. With hospitality clients across Australia and New Zealand, Poolwerx understands that a hotel pool needs to be as clean and inviting as the rooms themselves. We ensure that your pools and spas are healthy and comply with legislation.

Poolwerx promises specialist care by a fully certified pool technician. Our services include: •

24/7 emergency hotline as well as free professional problem solving and advice by phone or email

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Independent, expert third-party support in the event of litigation

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Service all year round, with options to suit your seasons and location

Poolwerx can do as much or as little of the work you require. As a Registered Training Organisation, we can also provide training for work you wish to be performed in house. Starting with a complementary on-site visual inspection, Poolwerx will then tailor a solution, keeping your current resources and budget in mind.

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Certified Swimming Pool and Spa Service. Certificate IV CPP41312 and III CPP31212.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Is your pool a hinderance or a highlight?

Poolwerx

Research shows that 90% of Motel, Resort and Hotel owners feature the pool in their marketing and promotion of the property.

W

hat does your pool say about your motel? Does it truly represent the relaxing, majestic oasis that your brand promises its guests?

A sparkling clean pool and spa pool have the potential to whisk your motel guests away to whole new place that they never want to leave and if you exceed your guest’s expectations, they will let everyone know. This means more customers are coming back for longer and even more new customers are coming through the doors– word of mouth advertising is a powerful marketing tool.

Along with the long sunny days, and cooling storms, comes higher bather loads in swimming pools. Whether motel guests want to cool off or simply relax and take in the ambience, your pool will have a constant high bather load. The heat and higher bather loads will dramatically increase the chemical demand placed on the pool and spa. A pool that is incorrectly maintained can cause bather discomfort, skin irritation or illness and adverse impacts on your pool surface. Another bi-product could be pool staining and dirty water, which could be costly to reverse.

Maintaining a pool can be a bit of a daunting task without the expertise and help of a pool professional.

With new technology in pool dosing equipment and management systems, robotic cleaners and quick, easy to use, fool-proof water testing units makes managing one of your largest assets easier than ever. Along with your site staff doing daily testing and cleaning and by including a regime of regular servicing, maintenance and monitoring by insured, certified trained in swimming pool and spa commercial pool technicians.

Cloudy water usually is a result of 3 issues; decreased efficiency of the filtration, a decreased level of sanitizer in the water caused from a high number of users (bather load) or lack of sanitizer being added to the pool water. Sometimes it can be a combination of all three.

A pool can turn from slightly cloudy to a green mess rapidly. To avoid this happening, all pools require regular professional water testing. If the water is unbalanced, sanitizer may need to be added. Filtration media should be inspected to ensure its work effectively. With the cooler months approaching, it is the perfect time to service the pool equipment, particularly the filters.

Guests are complaining of itchy irritated skin after swimming?

Do your motel guests complain about stinging eyes, dry skin and strong odour around the pool?

Free chlorine can bond with nitrogen from swimmer waste to form chloramines. These are the guilty culprits that cause all the problems above. They can be eliminated by oxidizing or shocking in the correct dosage.

So as summer draws to a close and the busy swimming season draws to an end, we reflect back on the most frequently asked questions over summer regarding pools. We have compiled a list of a few of the most frequently asked questions and some tips to help out.

Why is the Pool water cloudy?

A cloudy pool is the first sign that the water is imbalanced and, if left untreated, will result in a murky green pool that will need to be shut down. This will not only incur extra labour and maintenance costs but also result in many unhappy hotel guests.

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Pools

I have a noisy pump, what could be the problem?

A noisy pool pump will not only annoy guests and residents, it’s also a sign that a pump needs repairs or replacement. Pumps have two distinct sides, the wet end and motor end. The wet end is the side of the pump that handles the water. The water comes in one end, the impeller spins creating a vacuum, forcing the water out under pressure. The other end of the pump is the motor end. The electric motor spins a shaft that has the impeller fitted to one end and a cooling fan on the other end.

Cloudy pool, can’t see the bottom.

Water and electricity don’t mix, so to keep water from getting in to the motor, there is a mechanical seal behind the impeller.

Mechanical seals wear out over time and need to be replaced. If they are not replaced, water can enter and cause bearings to rust and become noisy. If bearings are left to long they can seize and cause irreparable damage to the pump.

Why does my pool have a dirty waterline?

Over time, the buildup of oils, sunscreen and fatty residue can leave a ‘scum line’ around the waterline of your pool. This is a sign that the pool isn’t being properly maintained. Every pool maintenance schedule should involve the scrubbing of the scum line.

Maintaining proper water balance will help reduce the scum line effect, there are also specialized chemicals on the market that can help prevent and reduce the scum line on your pool. Talk to your pool care professional about starting a chemical maintenance program to beat the scum line.

The moment you hear a pump not sounding quite right, you need to act. A simple repair can save a lot of money down the track.

If you know that your pool is not quite right, but you feel like a fish out of water, it’s important to remember to act quickly. Refer to these tips or contact a pool care expert.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

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Pools

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Diving into efficiency in pool heating

MARK CROWTHER I Rheem

Having committed to the lure of a heated swimming pool as a key point of difference in its guest offering, the onus on motel management is to achieve the lowest possible ongoing cost, adding as little as possible to the burgeoning energy expense.

I

n essence, a lowered heating cost is driven from two aspects – firstly, understanding the heat loss characteristics of the pool and instigating measures that lower the rate of loss and secondly, selecting the most efficient technology for the task.

LOWERING HEAT LOSS This first aspect of lowering heat loss is an imperative as it provides a lasting change which has a flow on benefit to the efficiency and effectiveness of the heating system regardless of the heating technology chosen. Important measures include the use of a pool blanket, the chosen water temperature and/or changing target range by time-of-year, increasing wind protection of outdoor pools and controlling space for indoor pools. Factors in the initial pool design are also clearly important such as the wind exposure of negative edge or waterfall features.

HEATING TECHNOLOGY However, our focus in this article is the second aspect, i.e. in considering the choice and operation of the heating technology.

To assist this discussion we will look at the example of the Dive In Swim Academy. Dive In provides an excellent case study for the hotel and tourism operator as its experience is directly parallel to a busy resort or hotel pool.

CASE STUDY – DIVE IN The Dive In Swimming Academy is located near Penrith, NSW and offers state-of-the-art facilities for learn to swim classes. The centre includes a 25M indoor pool heated to 32˙C during winter and a 2-lane 50m outdoor lap pool.

Driven to reduce operating cost, the centre owners moved quickly at the end of 2017 to focus on heating efficiency. The cost of heating of the 25M pool easily represented the single largest component of the total energy cost, being some 70% of the average total monthly energy cost which includes other uses such as showers, lighting, space heating and pump loads. Heating costs for the pool varied from $3,000 to $6,000/month in summer and winter. The existing heating was natural gas.

The first phase of Dive In’s response was to break apart its energy costs and understand its pattern of use. This requires a detailed review of their gas and electricity billing, looking at both their

consumption data and the structure of gas and electricity pricing.

Next, they looked for detail on the heat loss characteristics of the pool. To gain this information, Dive In relied on Rheem as the manufacturer of both the Raypak gas heater which they then used for heating of the pool but who also manufactures the alternative Accent heat pump technology.

Ultimately, Dive In determined that they would convert to high efficiency electric heat pump, with the existing gas heater retained for redundancy and temperature boosting. The anticipated saving in heating costs of this change is some $20,000 per annum.

HEAT PUMP TECHNOLOGY The characteristic of the heat pump of absorbing heat value from air means that the unit has a low electrical input relative to its heat transfer. Heat pumps output heat at a rate of around 5:1, relative to their input, greatly reducing total usage. This factor is called the heat pump’s co-efficient of performance or COP. The capture of solar energy from air means that the heat pump’s performance will vary with air temperature. Higher efficiency is gained in more temperate locations but heat pumps are capable of maintaining pool temperatures year-round in nearly all areas of Australia.

MAXIMISING SAVINGS WITH TARIFF CHOICE Dive In’s decision to introduce heat pumps as their primary heating source was an economic one as this equipment is clearly more expensive as an initial investment. So their action reflected the predicted comparative heating cost between the existing gas and the new heat pumps based on the breakdown of their specific energy costs. The parallel for the motel operator is important but it will not be the same in all States nor for all sites as electricity and gas pricing varies by State and Region.

For example, Melbourne has considerably lower gas pricing than say Perth and likewise, Canberra has substantially lower electricity pricing than Adelaide. The economics of the pool heater technology selection will vary accordingly so there is no universal “best” option.

Dive In’s breakdown of their electricity billing showed that their usage is metered on a time-of-use basis with peak, shoulder and off peak rates. This is significant as tariff sensitive control of the

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Pools

heat pumps does allow a level of manipulation of run hours to achieve a lower average input price for electricity by favouring off peak and shoulder periods. For example, the peak time price for electricity is 33.2c/kWh with this applying from 2PM to 8PM MonFri. The overall modelled price for operation of the heat pump set is 22.2c/kWh. The lesson here is that this one-third reduction in the electricity cost achieved doesn’t reflect anything other than the clever running of the heater relative to how Dive-In are billed for electricity.

Dive In’s electricity pricing is somewhat old-fashioned as it is based solely on metered usage (kWhs). While it is time-of-use based, their electricity price structure does not include any kVA or demand charges. For many larger motels, the electricity price structure will include Network charges and this introduces the need to consider the demand profile of any new plant relative to the load of the total building. Ideally, any increase in the total recorded maximum demand would be avoided. The role of Power Factor is another consideration.

OFFSETTING ELECTRICITY COSTS WITH SOLAR-PV Dive In is now considering the use of a solar power system (also known as photovoltaic or solar-PV) as the next step in

their reduction of energy costs. A photovoltaic system or solarPV converts light into electricity and so it can directly offset the new electricity demand of the heat pumps and other electrical demand. While the heat pumps provide a cheaper heating option to gas at all times of the day for the centre, they will add significantly to electricity usage. As was the case with the gas heater, the demand of the new heat pumps will become the major use of electricity in the centre by a factor of around 2.

So an investment in solar-PV provides an opportunity to substantially lessen the P&L impact of this new electricity usage.

The bottom-line in this decision is the rate of return of the investment.

Reputable suppliers of solar-PV will provide detailed calculations of solar generation and will further plot this against an assumed load profile allowing a detailed consideration of the portion of load which is met from in-house produced power and what remains unused for feedback to the grid.

The graphs below show a sample of the performance estimates which can be derived.

Electricity Offset in Summer

Electricity Offset in Winter

What can be seen from these graphs is the gap between predicted solar-PV output and the load profile of the motel. The breakdown of this information would merit another whole article in its own right and is beyond the scope that we can cover today but the key lessons are in understanding and gaining confidence in the predictive data for the solar-PV and being able to overlay this to your own load profile, inter-laid with the detailed breakdown of your electricity price.

For Dive In, the solar generation covers periods of shoulder and peak priced electricity usage so its value is high and equates to between 28 – 33c/kWh. Given the estimated total kWhs provided by solar-PV for the year, the further reduction in electricity costs is some $10,000 per annum. With the total energy cost savings made between the two efficiency projects (conversion to heat pump and solar-PV offset), Dive In will have reduced its total annual energy cost by above 40%, with a payback on the capital cost of around two years. This is a fantastic result and is testimony of the benefit of a management which is committed to understanding the cost base of its business and looking for more efficient approaches to energy.

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motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

PRODUCT NEWS

It’s a MOBILE world, is your PMS ready?

The future of hotel technology can be encapsulated in a single word - mobile.

M

obile Technology and the way people use it is growing – are you keeping up? If the answer is no, then it’s probably time to consider switching your property management system.

Mobile technology is already having a significant impact at every level of staff and guest interaction, but at RMS – The Hospitality Cloud we believe this is only the start of the revolution.

The impact will be felt at both front and back of house and it’s vital that hotels deploy mobile-friendly technology throughout their operation or risk falling behind the curve.

The Albert system also collects and analyses customer data, which is supplied to clients every month, revealing key demographic and user trends.

Another key element is cost savings. RMS clients can access special “group rate” credit card merchant fees exclusively negotiated on their behalf by RMS. One of our clients has reported a 50% drop in their merchant transaction fees.

So here is a quick checklist to see if your current PMS is mobile ready!

Statistics say it all. Smartphone penetration rates are between 80% to 90% across Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to global digital marketing agency Zenith.

Does your current PMS;

Meanwhile, eMarketer predicts that the volume of online travel reservations through mobile devices in the United States will overtake desktop computers by 2022 or 2023, growing at 11% a year.

»» Provide a mobile friendly internet booking engine?

However, that is only part of the story. Mobile is also becoming increasingly important within the workplace – an area in which RMS The Hospitality Cloud is leading the way.

One day soon, it will be possible for a guest to do everything – check-in, check-out, lock and unlock the room – on a mobile device using RMS technology without interacting with a hotel staff member.

Personally, we enjoy a warm greeting and the personal touch – but it’s clear some guests would prefer to bypass reception and get straight to their room.

This leads to greater staffing efficiencies while the deployment of tablets by housekeeping & maintenance means staff can instantly update the system, allowing immediate check-in and increased guest satisfaction.

Another big piece of the puzzle is connectivity. At RMS, we have entered into a number of strategic partnerships with a range of organisations to help you navigate the mobile revolution.

One example of this is our partnership with CommWEB, a division of the Commonwealth Bank.

RMS has become the first hospitality technology company to fully integrate its Property Management System with the Albert terminal, a smart EFTPOS tablet developed by CommWeb that can take payments, split bills and reconcile sales.

»» Cloud based allowing access on any device?

»» Offers you access to exclusive cost saving partnerships? »» Support Mobile Check In / Out on a tablet anywhere in your motel? »» Allows your housekeeping and maintenance teams work from tablets? »» Allows you to access live dashboards and reports from your handheld device? »» Allows you to control distribution and rates from your tablet anywhere, anytime? »» Allows your customers to manage their own bookings, billing and special requests online?

If you answered NO to one or more of these, then it’s time to consider making the switch to RMS. Contact RMS Sales now to see how our software can simplify your motel’s operation, grow revenue and save you time and money!

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Product News

Livi® Basics Multi-pack Toilet Tissue – Simplified Washroom Economy NEW from Livi®, the Basics 7009 toilet tissue is a 2ply, 400-sheet conventional toilet tissue available in a multi-pack of 6 rolls for optimal convenience. Designed to provide a value alternative for establishments

wanting to keep their ongoing costs down. The minimalistic approach of the product helps reduce packaging waste compared to individually wrapped rolls. Each pack of 6 enables maintenance of multiple bathroom stalls in one go making them an ideal solution for medium traffic washrooms.

This product is suitable for use with the Livi® conventional toilet tissue dispensers; product codes 5500, 5501 and 5502.

• 2ply, quality soft-touch emboss • 400-sheets per roll, 6-roll multipack • 100% PEFC-certified virgin pulp • Packaging waste reduction with no individual wrap • Quality budget option for medium-traffic washrooms Livi® Basics range of tissue products provide the reliable, affordable solutions to keep up with your daily washroom demands.

Solaris Paper Pty Ltd livitissue.com.au | 1300 832 883

The Rapid Takeover of Mobile Apps and its Benefits It’s a revolutionary time for the technology of mobile phones and applications. Affecting daily experiences on a global scale – changing the ways in which we learn, our methods of communication, keeping in touch with news or even the way we simply pass time whilst waiting for friends.

Inevitably, these changes have also transformed enterprise processes, and the workforce dynamic.

Coming this summer in 2018, this mobile app ecosystem continues to grow - a market driven by the billions of smartphone owners and companies distributing their new apps. According to the global market data, the total number of mobile app downloads in 2018 alone, was over 205 billion. With a forecast of 2022 increasing up to 258 billion annual downloads. So in what way are enterprise mobile apps contributing towards these numbers?

In late 2017, Gartner reported that 75% of global enterprises had virtualised mobile applications. The resulting benefits from these integrations are reflected within a Mobility Survey of 332 executives from different industries. CITO Research found that enterprise mobility improved process efficiency by 30%, with employee productivity

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increasing by 23%. It seems to appear that the big promise when bringing mobility to your organization is productivity.

Surely wouldn’t all businesses hop on board then? CITO looked into determining the top mobility challenges these participating executives faced – including keeping track of the returns of investment, a lack of budget and the initial quality of the apps integrated.

Investigating issues faced by businesses such as these provides an insight towards what the enterprise app industry seems to be lacking.

Affordability, statistical tracking and quality investigation into creating a custom app for the intended business needs.

Recognizing such global trends, and wanting to innovate for these solutions is the basis on which AppTegral was founded. Visit our website for more information and see the ways in which innovative app solutions can be tailored for individual business needs.

CONTACT US T 1300 553 225 E ask@apptegral.com www.apptegral.com.au

motel owners Journal THE AUSTRALIAN

Port Douglas

South Pacific Laundry specialises in the provision of quality linen and supplies for the customer service and hospitality industries.

Mackay

Armidale Coffs Harbour

SPL provides: • A 365 day service to all its clientele with a 24 hour turnaround.

Adelaide Colac

Sale

Warrnambool

South Pacific Laundry (SPL) has been a provider of commercial laundry and linen services to the hospitality industry in Melbourne for the last 20 years.

Geelong

Currently, the South Pacific Group is establishing a strong network of modern laundry across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia with plans for several more facilities up the East Coast of Australia in 2017.

The relocation of our Sydney operations to a new larger facility in Bankstown together with the relocation of our Brunswick plant to Broadmeadows will establish South Pacific Laundry as the single largest privately owned laundry in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere.

Contact Robert Teoh National PR & Marketing P: (03) 9388 5300 M: 0421 716 888 Coverage Australia wide

Pricing Information Contact supplier direct Delivery Free daily delivery within 25km city metropolitan areas Minimum Order Contact supplier direct

• A leading edge technology in RFID to assist housekeeping and managerial staff in time reduction and efficiency.

• Dedicated account managers and experienced support staff who are available 7 days a week.

• A dedicated software design package and centralised billing system enables seamless transactions, paperless and customised reports.

• Delivery rationalisation systems, providing and streamlining efficient delivery routes which will reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

• Building of partnerships and sharing benefits with the customers from savings made through its constant laundry process innovations and group purchasing power of linen products.

• Dry cleaning, Uniform cleaning services, Housekeeping services, Dust mat hire and Cleaning services.

• Provision and supplying of Corporate uniforms/work wears and customised hotel room Amenities.

Full Contact Information South Pacific Laundry 9-23 King William St Broadmeadows VIC 3047 P: (03) 9388 5300 F: (03) 9387 2399

*Albury only

E: customerservice@southpacificlaundry.com.au robert.teoh@southpacificlaundry.com.au

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Tired of Property Management Software that blah Ma doesn’t do what you want, is hard to use or costs the earth?

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Comprehensive value for money solutions for Motels, Hotels, Backpackers and Resorts.

Modules include: • Front Office • Back Office • Reports and Analysis • Accounts (Debtors) • PABX, Internet and Movie charging Interfaces • MYOB, QuickBooks and Attache links • Conference Manager • Touch Screen Point of Sale software • Tour Desk • Door Key Card interface • Channel Manager links (with booking button option) to: • Resonline • Siteminder • UseROSS

Australian made & Supported

p = +61 3 9428 4333 f = +61 3 8640 0446 e = sales@starfleet-software.com.au w = www.starfleet-software.com.au

For more information or to apply for a free working demonstration CD76 of our software go to www.starfleet-software.com.au