The Hijinx Hotel design replicates an accommodation hotel
ENTERTAINMENT
A sense of escapism Funlab’s Hijinx Hotel points to a new future in entertainment hospitality, as Seamus May discovers.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE ENTERTAINMENT Para Hills Community Club in the northern suburbs of Adelaide is a multi-award-winning venue with a focus on providing a casual meeting place for friends and family. Since returning to business after the ongoing interruptions of Covid-19 the team at Para
FUNLAB IS the company behind some of Australia’s most popular entertainment venues, perhaps most notable of which is Holey Moley – a series of 18 mini-golf venues dotted across Australia. Funlab’s most recent venue, the high-concept Hijinx Hotel, pushes the envelope of what entertainment venues can be, and demonstrates how a theme can be incorporated into every element of the on-premise. Hijinx Hotel is a sprawling ‘challenge room hotel’ in the inner-Sydney suburb of Alexandria containing 15 different games rooms, and a full 18-hole mini-golf course. What it is not, however, is an accommodation hotel – despite a full hotel-lobby bar, a faux-concierge complete with room keys and traditional hotel elevator (including bell-boys). You cannot stay at Hijinx. In this regard, the location emulates some of the hottest trends in the on-premise, with Sydney’s award-winning Maybe Sammy known for being a ‘hotel bar, without the hotel’. Australian Hotelier spoke to Blaise Witnish, chief growth and innovation officer at Funlab, to learn more about Hijinx’s creation, where it fits in the company’s portfolio and broader developments in the entertainment market.
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Hills, led by manager Cameron Taylor, have doubled down on their intentions to provide quality facilities, food and beverage and entertainment to their patrons. One of the newer initiatives they have taken on is DJ Bingo, which was launched at the venue in March 2021. DJ Bingo is bingo with a beat. “Our DJ Bingo event has been extremely well received,” said Taylor. “Wednesday night in the club bar is up 11.9% in sales and DJ Bingo is a significant contributor to that result. DJ Bingo is highly effective in bringing people to a venue and keeping them onsite for longer. “There is a great mix of demographics,” said Cameron, “players come along and enjoy a meal and a couple of drinks. It’s a product that draws people back.” With great tunes being played by a friendly, fully trained Mix Master, DJ Bingo boosts the atmosphere in venue and makes for a memorable night for all involved. “I believe that energy connects people to the product,” said Taylor. “I would tell venue managers looking at DJ Bingo that the product will give them a connection with their clientele.”
