Tourism News

A lesson in how to host ‘Schoolies’

By Grantlee Kieza,

Industry Reporter Thousands of teenagers spent the last few weeks of November experimenting with alcohol for the first time at Australia’s favourite playground.

It sounds like a recipe for disaster but according to ARAMA CEO Trevor Rawnsley, the threeweek rite of passage known as ‘Schoolies’ is the perfect partner for the management and letting rights industry, providing a safe environment for callow teenagers and bumper returns for accommodation operators. “Schoolies can be a real boon for MLR operators,” Mr Rawnsley told Resort News, “and MLR businesses are the ideal hosts for Schoolies.

“Most MLR businesses are mum and dad small businesses or a family operation, and for a lot of kids playing grownups for the first time, these management rights operators provide some semblance of home during the Schoolies break. “These kids still need guidance and ground rules as they make their way into adulthood and MLR operators can provide that grounding.” An estimated 25,000 Queensland graduates celebrated the end of their high school days at Surfers Paradise late in November with the largest Schoolies crowds since 2018. generate $42 million for the Queensland economy, with about $30 million of that spent on the Gold Coast.

Queensland Police acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman told the ABC that while the number of arrests had increased on the coast over the schoolies period compared to previous years, that was understandable given the great increase in numbers visiting the Gold Coast in the post-pandemic boom. He said that ‘the behaviour that’s been demonstrated is comparable to pre-COVID years when you look at the crowd numbers’, and he said the school leavers should be congratulated, with non-school leavers or “Toolies” being the main focus of arrests during the celebrations. The school leavers holidaying on the Sunshine Coast this year generated a relaxed, rather than raucous vibe, preferring to read on the beach than rage in the streets. Andy Gourley, the founder and director of Red Frogs, a Christian Youth charity that promotes responsible behaviour at youth events, told the ABC that he had noticed a major shift in Schoolies’ habits across the board.

Mr Gourley said, “probably 40 to 50 percent (of the school leavers) aren’t big drinkers these days”. “We notice this in the cafes,” he said. “Back in the day at Schoolies locations, cafes would be empty, it’d be like a ghost town. “Now, they’re full of Schoolies doing their smashed avo and lattes.”

Sunshine Coast police said there had not been any schooliesrelated issues in the region, while Visit Sunshine Coast chief executive Matt Stoeckel said schoolies visitors were coming to the coast for all the right reasons. “We know that we attract a lot of young ones who want to come up here and just relax, connect, get among nature [and] spend time with their friends,” he told the ABC. “The Schoolies do bring in economic benefit to the region, [they’re] spending at restaurants, bars, accommodation, tours, experiences, so it’s a great injection for us.” Mr Rawnsley said while a lot of management rights properties didn’t host Schoolies because they lacked the necessary security protocols, his experience was that with all the checks and balances in place, Schoolies and MLR businesses were a perfect match. And with statistics showing young people drinking less it was becoming a more attractive union every year. “I managed a Schoolies building two years in a row,” Mr Rawnsley said “If Schoolies is well managed and well organised, it is a fantastic opportunity for the kids to experience playing grownups in a safe environment. Those management rights businesses that run Schoolies accommodation properly in bulk really do turn on a great event for the attendees.

“Occasionally Schoolies gets a bad rap and it’s usually because the kids are accommodated in Airbnb or other places where there isn’t any real support structure. “Management rights has an ideal business model to host the Schoolies kids, organise their accommodation, and provide safety and security.” Mr Rawnsley said while he wouldn’t like to host Schoolies every week “because it can be very taxing” accommodating the school leavers provided a cash windfall with great room rates and all the other extras that could be squeezed out of enthusiastic holidaymakers. “From an economic sense Schoolies can make a lot of money for a Management and Letting Rights operator, and for the Schoolie a well organised MLR business can really provide safety, security and a great experience for their entry into the adult world.” Mr Rawnsley said like many managers who provided accommodation for the school leavers, he had “processes and procedures” to handle the influx of partying teenagers when he hosted them on the Gold Coast.

“One of the most important things that I did was to have two guards working 24 hours a day in eight-hour shifts,” Mr Rawnsley said. “I had one guard on the main entrance to the building checking what’s called the Schoolies’ passports, checking the identity of who arrived and left.

“There were some residents who lived there so naturally, the security guard would pass them through, but we stopped people who weren’t registered in that building from entering that building. “The other security guard would roam around the complex making sure no one was jumping the fence or having yahoo parties or anything like that – so we had 24/7 security for the period of Schoolies, which was very essential. “Another essential is what I would call the ‘Schoolies induction’ – every good building has house rules for Schoolies and that’s a condition of booking. We would have a process of registration like a normal hotel registration but more elaborate for the kids.

“We would ask for that entire room to check in at the same time. We would give them one key only and go to the room to take photos to make sure everything was in order, with no damage, and nothing missing. That entry condition report would then be looked at when the kids checked out.” 20 kids at a time and seat them around the barbecue, go over the house rules and give everybody a final warning about climbing on balconies. “We would tell the girls to look after the boys because it was usually the girls who were the sensible ones.

“We’d remind them all to be responsible and look after their mates.

“Because they are fresh out of school most of the kids do follow the rules and take instructions. We wanted to make sure that the Schoolies weren’t affected by the ‘Toolies’ or the ‘Droolies’, the older ones or the ‘Foolies’, the younger ones, and that they had a good time in a safe space. “If you were a Schoolie you were registered, you had photo ID in the Schoolies passport and you had to show it all the time to the security guard to get in and out of the building. We had our complex as tight as a drum and as a result of that we didn’t have any drama at all in the two years even though there was some bad behaviour.”

One boy at Mr Rawnsley’s complex was caught trying to climb from one balcony to another. “It was broad daylight and a security guard saw him. We evicted him, rang his parents and they came down and took him home back to Toowoomba.

“They were very grateful someone was watching over him.”

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