Can online communities like Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree survive in managerial organisations like the BBC?
When the BBC bought a 75% of travel guide publisher Lonely Planet in 2007, many people were puzzled at what the travel guide added to the publicly owned broadcaster’s mandate.
In 2011 the BBC bought out the rest of the founders’ stakes and just over a year later management mistakes threaten to destroy the brand.
Lonely Planet is one of the most powerful internet media properties in the English speaking world having become the dominant travel guide in the 1980s and then successfully making the jump into the online world with its website and mobile apps.
Key to Lonely Planet’s online success has been its community. The Thorn Tree forum provided the bulk of the site’s traffic as thousands of members discussed exotic destinations and asked or answered travel questions.
At the end of 2012, inappropriate content was bought to management’s attention, with the Jimmy Savile scandal still reverberating around the corridors of the BBC, the organisation’s management panicked and announced a temporary closure of the Thorn Tree.
Two months later, the site is back up again with strict pre-moderation of posts which has left many long time users upset and going elsewhere, if they didn’t already do so during the closure.
Online communities are a strong assets but they are surprisingly fragile, as many popular sites have found in the past.
For Lonely Planet users, there’s no shortage of other travel sites online and it’s going to be challenging for the site to recover.
The Thorn Tree saga raises the question of whether risk adverse, public sector organisations like the BBC have the risk appetite to run online forums and build communities.
By definition successful online communities are diverse and sometimes skate close to the boundaries of good taste for a careerist executive in a managerial organisation like the BBC, such risks are intolerable and have to be eliminated.
If this means shutting down the Thorn Tree forums or neutering them, then that will be done. Management careers come before the good of the organisation.
Time will tell whether Lonely Planet will continue to thrive under the BBC and its management, but the portents aren’t good.
In downtown San Francisco, the Marriott Marquis is good place to stay for a conference, just be careful of the coffee machine.
San Francisco’s Marriot Marquis is a welcome place to rest after a tough flight or a long day at a conference, just be careful when you take on the coffee machine.
The first impression of the Marriot Marquis San Francisco when you step out of a cab is that it is a very busy place. Being situated next to the city’s Moscone Centre makes it is the centre for the convention trade which overruns the hotel when a big convention like Dreamforce is on.
Something all major conference destinations do well is dealing with crowds and the Marquis is no exception. The reception desk is efficient, fast and friendly – right down to having no problem with a check-in earlier than the stipulated 4pm. Exactly what a traveller needs after a cramped 13 hour flight.
The room
A standard room at the Marquis is a comfortable size with a genuine king sized bed. Beside the bed is a clock radio that is simple to set and actually works, this is something many other hotels should take note of.
There’s plenty of room to spread out with a good sized bath, plenty of storage space and a deep wardrobe. In the wardrobe is the standard digital safe for valuables.
On the TV there is the usual range of cable TV, free to air stations and in-house movies. Interestingly the cable selection included Russia Today but not the BBC World Service or Al-Jazeera.
Power sockets are plentiful including two mounted on the writing desk for easy laptop charging. Wireless networking, which costs an extra $14.95 a day, gives reasonable download speeds and is more than adequate for most cloud computing tasks.
The Coffee Machine of Doom
Unlike the user friendly beside clock the one cup drip coffee machines are quite possibly the most difficult devices ever installed in a hotel room.
The evil Marriott coffee maker
Thinking the first one was broken, I sent it back. It turned out it wasn’t but I never quite got the knack of figuring out how to work them.
Along with being horribly user unfriendly, the disposable cartridges in the thing are horribly environmentally unfriendly. Generally give the things a miss and visit one of the many good coffee shops in the neighbourhood.
Fitness Centre
The fourth floor fitness centre features the usual range of equipment but in a complex the size of the Marriott expect it to be busy at peak times, at 7am the place was packed.
The Marriott Marquis’ swimming pool
Upstairs on the fifth floor is a respectable 30ft swimming pool which doesn’t get too busy, however more than four lap swimmers at one time will be difficult. The pool is quite shallow at one end and enthusiastic tumble turners should take care at the end of their laps. Note the pool opens at 6am, half an hour after the rest of the fitness centre.
Location
For attending conferences at Moscone the location is unbeatable and being right on Market Street in downtown San Francisco with Union Square, Westfields and all the major shopping outlets close by.
Harbourside tourist attractions are some distance from the hotel although the Marriot is close to the Powell terminus of the city’s iconic cable cars to Fisherman’s Wharf. The vintage K-Line street car service also runs to Fisherman’s Wharf via the Embarcadero waterfront.
Both the BART and Metro are around the corner at the Powell Street Station – the BART takes half an hour to San Francisco airport but it’s unlikely you’ll need that if you can afford to stay at the Marriot. Cabs to the hotel are around $65 including a 20% tip.
Overall
It’s difficult to fault the hotel as the service is friendly and efficient while the rooms are comfortable with all the features required for a good business stay.
Overall, if you’re not on a tight budget and you’re attending a conference at the Moscone Centre or have business in the SoMA district then the Marriot Marquis is a good choice. If you’re in San Francisco for the tourist experience or you have business in the Financial District then you’ll probably find hotels closer to what you’re in town for.
Paul travelled to San Francisco and stayed at the Marriott courtesy of Salesforce to attend their Dreamforce conference.
One of the tough things about long haul, overnight flights is getting a decent night’s sleep. I find this can only be done in a windows seat where you can snuggle against the fuselage and get reasonably comfortable. So it’s a priority to get those windows seats for a big flight.
With the return flight to Sydney from San Francisco it turned out there were no window seats in the basic economy section so a $150 upgrade to United’s Economy Plus section was needed to grab one of those essential windows seats.
Check-in
The United online check in, while clunky, still worked and the upgrade to Economy Plus was a simple online credit card transaction with a straightforward seat allocation, the selection was painless and effective.
At San Francisco airport the check in, albeit three hours early, was friendly and quick with no quirks and thankfully the seat allocation had been kept.
One thing to keep in mind with United’s seat allocations is they reserve the right to change them and even kick you out of Economy Plus, albeit with a refund of the supplement, if the flight is full and the Sydney flights are usually packed.
So it’s a good idea to get the airport and check in early to reduce the chances of losing your seat which is highly likely if there’s been disruptions elsewhere in the United network meaning connecting passengers have missed earlier flights.
Getting through security is the usually fraught hassle however the TSA staff deal with flummoxed tourists and language barriers with a brisk efficiency. Keep your sense of humour and accept that travellers’ dignity was one of the early causalities of the War On Terrorism and the process shouldn’t be traumatic.
Airside
San Francisco’s International Airport is a delight compared to the snarling, customer unfriendly Sydney Airport. While food outlets aren’t cheap, San Francisco’s are decent and there’s plenty of accessible power sockets, working desks and free wi-fi that works.
The gates themselves can be some distance from the facilities so be prepared not to stray too far. The gate lounges themselves are fairly spartan and there’s no reason to wait there until a few minutes before the aircraft starts boarding.
The seats
Sadly I didn’t get the aircraft registration numbers for this flight or the previous inbound trip but it appeared that this plane was newer – say mid-1990s – than the flight into San Francisco which could well have been one of the first 747-400s ever built in the late 1980s.
United Airline’s Economy Plus is far more comfortable than standard economy
The Economy Plus seats’ additional 3″ of legroom are definitely worth it. The moment you get in the seat, you know the extra room makes a much more comfortable trip than the cramped 31″ of standard economy class.
One thing to keep in mind is that while Economy Plus adds nothing more in service, being at the front of the economy cabin does mean you get first choice of food, beverages and easy access to the middle toilets which is a slight advantage over those crammed at the back. It’s also a little quieter as the seats are over the wing rather than behind the engines.
Another benefit with the additional pitch is that you don’t get a faceful of headrest when the seat in front of you reclines so it is possible to work on a laptop, read or eat in comfort even when the person ahead of you is still sleeping.
Inflight entertainment
While the system was still the shockingly decrepit 1990s cabin screens, there were for some reason additional choices on the audio channels including a classical music selection which made it far easier to relax than cheesy 1980s love songs or gangsta rap.
Naturally there was no inflight power in the cheap seats so take advantage of the plentiful power sockets at SFO to make sure you’re fully charged before boarding.
Shortly after take off the cabin crew come around with meals. Overall the cabin crew seem tired and beaten, while they aren’t rude or unpleasant one wonders if they have all received too many stern memos from management about being friendly to customers.
Food
An interesting thing about cheap airline food is how they cook and serve it in ways that make it difficult, if not downright dangerous to eat with plastic cutlery.
Careful trying to cut that chicken
In this respect UA 863 didn’t disappoint. The tough, mystery chicken lying under a red sludge masquerading as barbecue sauce was difficult to cut and risked sending one’s drink flying into your neigbour if you weren’t careful. This isn’t helped by the weird ridges United insist on putting underneath their trays.
The bread had a strange chemical taste while the Love and Quiches Double Chocolate Crunch Bar was the highlight of the meal. The red wine was nice as well.
After as good a night’s sleep as one can get in an economy class seat, breakfast was served around two hours before landing in Sydney. Again it was tough to eat.
You’ll need lots of syrup to soften that tough toast
Like the chicken earlier in the flight, the French toast was tough to cut and hard to eat. Fortunately a good soaking in maple syrup makes it almost edible.
The fruit salad was spartan but fine while the cold croissant tasted strange like the roll served the night before. It’s a shame United can’t find one of San Francisco’s excellent bakeries to supply their bread.
Arrival
The plane arrived on-time and without problems with immigration straightforward after dodging the embarrassing and garish duty free ripoff shops.
Customs is the standard mass brawl that’s normal for early morning international arrivals at Sydney when a dozen or so wide bodied jets arrive at the same time from Europe, Asia and the US.
If you have the choice, it may be worthwhile choosing a flight that arrives in Sydney after 8am so you can avoid both the customs hall and traffic peak hours.
Once past customs it’s welcome to the snarling, belligerent and anti-traveller horror that is Sydney Airport. Get out of there as quick as you can by train, taxi, bus or car.
Note if someone is meeting you, the pick up area is on the far side of carparks A and B. It’s not marked for either passengers in the terminals or for those driving into the complex. None of this is an accident and it’s best for both parties to have mobile phones so they can co-ordinate movements.
In many ways the customer hostile attitude of the Sydney Airports Corporation is good news for United Airlines as it makes their tired inflight service feel warm and inviting.
Overall the United Economy Plus option is worth the extra $150 charge to at least get earlier service and more legroom if you have to fly UA. It’s difficult though to recommend United while they fly such awfully old equipment and you should only consider it if the connections or the fare make them the best option.
The Gold Coast’s Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino is a property desperately in need of a refurbishment.
Jupiter’s was built in the late 1980s as part of Australia’s initial casino mania. Today it’s looking its age despite several refurbishments in recent years.
Apart from the gambling room, the complex’s main attraction is its proximity to the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Location
Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino is located centrally on the Gold Coast in Broadbeach, around 4km South of Surfers Paradise and 20km North of the Airport, right next to the Pacific Fair shopping mall.
The Casino sits on its own island some 500m away from the beach. The Gold Coast Convention Centre is a 200m walk from the hotel across an open air walkbridge.
Most of the time that walk will be fine but be prepared to get soaked in wet weather.
There is also a cheesy and largely pointless monorail that runs to the shopping complex across the highway. The $3 fare is reportedly waived for hotel guests but check at reception first.
Check-in
The front desk staff are friendly and helpful. There was no problem with checking in two hours before the official check-in time.
Asking reception for some fresh milk for the tea making facilities was no problem.
Rooms
While it’s claimed there have been ongoing refurbishments since 2008, the rooms are dated and tired, despite a relatively recent paint job.
Beds are comfortable and the blackout blinds do a good job of plunging the room into darkness and keeping the early morning or late evening sun out of the room on a hot day.
The bathroom, mini-bar and tea making facilities are basic but adequate. Each room has a digital combination safe as well as ironing equipment.
One aspect of the 1980s legacy is the scarcity of power points with only one double power outlet next to the fixed desk unit. Luckily there are nearby shopping centres to buy a powerboard if you can’t borrow one from reception.
Rooms have wireless and wired Internet available for a fee, although it may waived for convention guests. Surfing and downloads are extremely quick.
Amenities in the room are satisfactory with the standard range of free to air and cable TV stations including CNN, Bloomberg Asia and Sky.
Unfortunately the room doesn’t have dressing gowns and it’s little touches like that which let the hotel down.
Fitness Facilites
the Gym is well equipped with the usual range of weights, rowing and walking machines and open from 5.30am on weekdays.
It’s open to the public and could get crowded at busy times. The weekend times are fairly limited with Sunday being a stingy 8am to 4pm, Saturday’s are 7 to 5.
If you want a swim, there’s a large, warm pool next door to the gym and lap swimmers can get a 25m stretch if it isn’t busy. The pool area is open from 6am to 9pm and also has two spa baths.
Overall impressions
Jupiter’s desperately needs an investor to spruce the place up. The public areas are looking run down with chipped tiles and scuffed walls. Generally there’s a faded 1980s vibe about the place.
That 1980s feel also comes from the patrons, a midweek stay at Jupiter’s will find you sharing with a lot of grumpy seniors who are presumably playing the pokies (slot) and games in the casino.
In many respects Jupiter’s reflects much of what is wrong with Australian hospitality — a 1980s property that hasn’t had the investment to compete in the 21st Century catering for a declining, low value segment of the marketplace.
Overall the hotel is adequate but there are better deals to be had on the Gold Coast.
If you’re attending a conference at the Gold Coast Conference Centre then it may be worth checking out rooms at the nearby Sofitel or the many serviced apartments in the Broadbeach area.
Paul stayed at Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino courtesy of Microsoft when attending the 2012 Australian TechEd conference.
Jetstar delivers on the low cost operator promise, just don’t expect anything more than a flight.
One of the delightful aspects of the low cost airline model is the contempt management has for their customers.
That scorn for the people who fund management’s salaries is guilty pleasure to watch on a third rate TV “reality” show, but it’s not fun when you’re on the receiving end.
So with a fixed smile and a grim determination not to to let the bastards grind me down, I headed to Sydney Airport to catch Jetstar’s flight JQ406 to the Gold Coast
Check in
It’s no conincidence people make reality TV shows documenting the clash of penny pinching, ticket clipping corporatism with the modern lumpenproletariat; the queues are long and the tempers are frayed.
The key to your temper surviving Jetstar’s check in is not to have checked baggage so you can dodge the general grumpiness in the queues.
Otherwise have your all your documents handy when you get to the check in clerk as they are quite friendly once they realise you aren’t going to mess them around.
Seats
A positive with Jetstar is the seats are spacious and comfortable compared to their Virgin competition and Qantas cousins.
While seat comfort isn’t an issue on a one hour flight it is a plus on longer flights and actually makes Jetstar a reasonable choice if you want to sleep on a ‘red eye’ from Perth.
Meals
As a low cost airline, meals and drinks are an extra charge on Jetstar and really who can be bothered on a mid-morning one hour flight?
During the Flight
An irritation with JQ is the early “turn of electronic devices” policy that sees cabin crew telling you to turn off devices the moment the plane starts its descent.
On short trips this weird policy means as little as twenty minutes time available to use a laptop or tablet, if you want to work on your flight then choosing Virgin or Qantas will give you more time to get things done.
On arrival
Baggage collection was surprisingly slow for a relatively quiet airport and Coolangatta Airport’s management save a few bucks by opening a minimum of luggage carousels which can cause crowds if two flight arrive at once.
Getting away
Coolangatta Airport is a delight for transport with plenty of taxis, including Maxi Cabs that seat half a dozen people and a regular city bus service that runs the length of the Gold Coast.
Overall Jetstar delivers what it promises, an 21st Century air flight that does its best to imitate a 20th Century bus.
If there is an alternative at a reasonable cost then go for it, otherwise accept the low prices and avoid checking baggage.
Paul travelled to the Gold Coast courtesy of Microsoft to attend their Australian TechEd event.
Are smaller hospitality businesses falling behind big hotel chains?
Travel review site Tripadvisor released its 2012 Industry Index examining the 25,000 responses from hotels around the world and 1,000 Australian hospitality businesses who took part in the survey.
The index covers a wide range of areas of how the hospitality industry is dealing with connected customers, the web and how hotels are dealing with the relative performances of markets in Europe, North America and Asia.
A disturbing part of the survey was how many smaller businesses are falling behind their bigger competitors with less than half of Australian Bed & Breakfasts agreeing the statement that an “ability to book via my property’s website on a mobile device is ‘very important,” while 70% of hotels agreed.
The failure of smaller properties to engage online is borne out anecdotally as well, at a recent business breakfast a B&B owner – whose main business was furniture retailing – moaned about the negative TripAdvisor reviews his place had.
When it was suggested he might want to engage with the unhappy customers, the proprietor threw his hands up and said “our solicitor told us that it was too expensive to sue.” He wouldn’t accept that the dissatisfied guests might have a legitimate complaint that should be addressed.
At the same time larger hotel chains have full time teams monitoring comments on Tripadvisor, Facebook and other online forums, fixing problems that are being mentioned and then telling the world they have resolved the issue.
There’s a good reason for this. Ask someone planning a major holiday and you’ll find almost all of them are reading reviews on sites like Tripadvisor, Fodors or Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree before booking accommodation or flights.
While many of the hotel management responses are boilerplate – repeated replies like “Thank you for your review and we appreciate you taking the time to share with us your experience as we are always pleased to receive feedback from our valued guests” is not what social media or customer service is – at least there is a perception that senior management is listening.
At many establishments senior management really is listening, a country manager of one of the world’s biggest chains describes how his three person team sends him a report each day of any complaints being listed online. These are checked out and any systemic problems they find such as surly front of house staff, poor housekeeping or incorrect billings are addressed immediately.
Having a direct line to happy or dissatisfied customers is one of the major benefits social media offers businesses. That smaller hotels aren’t doing this while their multinational competitors indicates the independent sectors of the hospitality industry are falling behind the majors.
The furniture shop owner with a B&B investment illustrated the problem, not only was he not engaging with dissatisfied customers on TripAdvisor, he had no idea whether his businesses were listed on Google Places, Facebook or any other online listing service – “my wife does that” was his dismissive answer.
Possibly the most overused quote in modern business is ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky’s “skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”. Those smaller hospitality businesses not taking the mobile web, review sites or social media seriously aren’t even in the skating rink in today’s game.
There’s a lot more interesting ideas in the TripAdvisor report that should have any hospitality thinking about how customer service and marketing are evolving in a connected society. It’s worth a read.
An easy flight from Melbourne to Sydney with the added bonus of queuing at both ends.
Returning from Xero’s Australian Partners’ Conference in Melbourne was again on Qantas, an evening flight rounded off a busy couple of days. Alas the free drinks on evening flights are no more for economy passengers.
Check in
Once again Qantas’ byzantine seat allocation only made aisle seats towards the back of the plane available.
This is an irritation if you aren’t a frequent Qantas passenger and for short hop flights, particularly for time and cash sensitive freelancers and the self employed it may be enough to choose the competition.
Apart from this irritation, web check in was straight forward and quick with only hand held luggage. Queues did not appear to be long at the check in desks for those with checked baggage.
Boarding
Evening flights out of Melbourne can be problematic as getting to the airport along the Tullamarine Freeway in peak hour can be slow. On this evening traffic was clear.
Surprisingly the security queues were massive as the two operating gates struggled with a relatively light load of passengers. Being early, this wasn’t a problem but others on soon to depart flights were being paged from the lines by anxious check in staff.
An 8pm flight out of Qantas’ domestic Melbourne terminal is a dispiriting affair if you want to grab something to eat as the overpriced food hall is shutting down and the range is dismal to go with the high prices.
Fortunately Gate One at Qantas domestic has ample power sockets so you can continue working instead of moping around the overpriced and depressing food court.
Onboard
Another rattly old 767. While well maintained, it’s still showing its age. Comfortable seats again.
Service
Again the cabin crew was delightfully pleasant and friendly belying Qantas’ reputation for surly service.
This could have been because the flight was nearly empty, which makes the restricted seat availability at check in even more frustrating.
It didn’t appear that the restricted seats had anything to do with weight distribution as the cabin crew invited us to move wherever we liked after the plane had taken off. This was an opportunity to nab a seat at the front of the economy class cabin.
Being an evening flight a meal was served – a basic penne pasta topped with tomato sauce and a tiny chocolate bar. The meal was fine although its size was closer to a snack.
Sadly alcoholic drinks are no longer complimentary on Qantas domestic so a ginger beer followed by a black tea were the accompanying refreshments.
On time performance
The flight was slightly late getting away but had a straight flight into Sydney and arrived ten minutes early.
Arrival
With an on time arrival and only carrying hand luggage, again there was no need to worry about baggage claim.
Not worrying about baggage is handy at Sydney Airport as you need all your wits when dealing with the Dantean circle of hell that are the airport’s taxi ranks. For first time visitors to Sydney, the inept management of something as simple as a line for taxis is a taste of the ticket clipping monopolistic incompetence that infests much of the state’s business community.
For most people it’s easier to get the train out of the airport unless you’re lumbered with luggage or travelling in a group.
Overall QF490 was a straightforward and easy flight with little hassle apart from the large security queues in Melbourne and messed up taxi rank at Sydney airport.
QF490 – 21 Jul 12. Dep Melbourin 8.00pm, arrived Sydney 9.35. Economy class ticket $180.
Paul travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Xero for their Australian developer’s conference.
A comfortable flight on Qantas’ gracefully aging 767s
The milk run between Sydney and Melbourne is a pretty routine affair and increasingly the service is like catching a fast bus.
Normally I fly Virgin Australia but as Xero were paying for my flight to attend their Australian convention I was happy to fly Qantas, it’s enough out of my usual routine to warrant a review.
Check in
Only having a day bag is an advantage with short hops along Australia’s East Coast and Qantas’ on-line check in is reasonably efficient.
An irritation with Qantas is the opaque way seats are made available. Depending upon your fare and frequent flier status you may not see all the available seats when checking in online so if grabbing a specific seat is important then it is worthwhile manually checking in at the airport to see what has become available.
Boarding
For all of Sydney airport’s sins, getting to the airport and boarding is fairly straightforward and for an 11am flight the security queues are short and efficient.
Another advantage with flying Qantas out of Sydney is their Heritage Centre in the T3 terminal where you can kill time waiting for a flight while looking at everything from the evolution of cabin crew uniforms to 1920s outback flight schedules. Just watch you don’t get too engrossed.
Boarding a Qantas flight is fairly clunky compared to Virgin Australia. This is partly due to their 767 craft only boarding from the front and not from both the forward and rear doors on the Virgin 737 aircraft. This also means queues down the aisles.
Onboard
The 767 aircraft are homely and showing their age. It’s surprising Qantas have kept flying them for as long as they have and the operating costs of these planes must be costing the airline a fortune compared to newer craft.
A positive with the older aircraft is the 2-4-2 seating is quite wide and comfortable compared to the equivalent JetStar and Virgin craft. Inflight entertainment is lacking although this hardly matters on a 95 minute flight.
Service
Qantas has a patchy reputation for cabin service, but the crew on this flight were delightfully friendly and helpful.
The inflight snack was a raspberry and white chocolate cookie or an apple (I had both) along with tea, coffee and softdrinks. The super-sweet cookie went well with a cup of tea.
On time performance
Sydney airport can create hell for passengers if the weather or various traffic restrictions conspire against them. This was not one of those days and the flight was away a few minutes late but arrived on time in Melbourne.
Arrival
With an on time arrival and only carrying hand luggage, there was no need to worry about baggage claim.
An advantage with Melbourne Airport is that cab ranks and bus stops are right outside the terminal although passengers using the Skybus service should note that the city bound buses usually stop at the Virgin terminal first so you may fight to get a seat unless you’re prepared to walk the 200m to earlier bus stop.
Overall QF427 was a comfortable trip and a good re-acquaintance with the flying kangaroo. The 767 aircraft though are desperately showing their age and while for passengers this doesn’t really matter on a short trips, it can’t be good for the airline’s image or operating costs.
QF427 – 20 Jul 12. Dep Sydney 11:00am, Arrived Melbourne 12.35. Economy class ticket $120.
Paul travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Xero for their Australian developer’s conference.
Melbourne’s Southbank Hilton is a nice choice if you’re attending a conference. Don’t go for the views though.
The Melbourn Hilton South Wharf is a good location for conference attendees, but for others it might be a little out of the way.
Melbourne boasts two Hilton hotels – the Park Hilton in Jolimont just to the East of the city and near the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and the newer South Wharf Hilton on the Yarra River across from the refurbished Docklands precinct.
For those attending events at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the South Wharf Hilton is an unbeatable location as you’re right next door to the venue. For most of the rest of Melbourne, the South Wharf Hilton’s a little bit out of the way.
If you’re using public transport, the closest services are Southern Cross Railway station and the tram stops on Flinders Street, both are a reasonable walk and getting to the train station takes you through some depressing and pedestrian unfriendly architecture.
On foot, it can be a slog from the city centre or Crown Casino through the convention centre, ladies with high heels should consider packing a pair of flats or be prepared to hail a cab.
By car and cab, it’s a circuitous route from the city centre, although if you’re coming in from the airport or the highway from the North or West of Melbourne, the hotel’s easy to get to off the freeway.
One of the interesting cultural aspects to Melbourne are the locals’ obsession with views – this probably comes from an inferiority complex over not having a nice harbour like Sydney’s. This means tourist and accommodation marketing often gushes about the views from the windows.
For all of Melbourne’s attractions, views are not the city’s greatest asset and most of Melbourne looks like Minneapolis or any other Twentieth Century high rise city from anything above the third floor.
In the case of my room, the view was of a freeway approach and a massive discount retail outlet complex, in the distance lay the docks and the West Gate Bridge – another manifestation of Melbourne’s civic desire to outdo Sydney in areas the city can’t compete.
Drawing the curtains on this less than inspiring vista was harder than expected and it took a bit of hunting to find the controls for the electronically operated blinds.
The hotel itself is a nice property and the rooms are lovely with comfortable beds. Unfortunately I was too busy with the conference to check out other facilities like the gym.
At both check in and departure the staff were extremely efficient, pleasant and polite.
If you’re attending a conference at the MCEC this is a good hotel to stay at and I’d recommend it, the main drawback is it’s a little out of the way if you’re wanting to explore Melbourne.
More than a decade after 9/11, it is a national embarrassment that our airport security system remains so hopelessly bureaucratic and disconnected from the people whom it is meant to protect. Preventing terrorist attacks on air travel demands flexibility and the constant reassessment of threats. It also demands strong public support, which the current system has plainly failed to achieve.
The underlying question in Kip’s article is “are Americans prepared to accept risk?” The indications are that they aren’t.
One of the conceits of the late twentieth Century was we could engineer risk out of our society; insurance, collateral debt obligations, regulations and technology would ensure we and our assets were safe and comfortable from the world’s ravages.
An overriding lessons from the events of September 11, 2001 and subsequent terrorist attacks in London and Bali is that these risks are real and evolving.
The creation of the TSA, along with the millions of new laws and billions of security related spending in the US and the rest of the world – much of it one suspect misguided – was to create the myth that the government is eliminating the risk of terrorist attacks.
It’s understandable that governments would do this – the modern media loves blame so it’s a no win situation that politicians and public servant find themselves in.
Should a terrorist smuggle plastic explosive onto a plane disguised as baby food then the government will be vilified and careers destroyed.
Yet we’re indignant that mothers with babies are harassed about the harmless supplies they are carrying with them.
It’s a no-win.
This is not an American problem, in Australia we see the same thing with the public vilification of a group of dam engineers blamed for not holding back the massive floods that inundated Brisbane at the end of 2010.
While we should be critical of governments in the post 9/11 era as almost every administration – regardless of their claimed ideology – saw it as an opportunity to extend their powers and spending, we are really the problem.
Today’s society refuses to accept risk; the risk that bad people will do bad things to us, the risk that storms will batter our homes or the risk that will we do our dough on what we were told was a safe investment.
So we demand “the gummint orta do summint”. And the government does.
The sad thing is the risk doesn’t go away. Risk is like toothpaste, squeeze the tube in one place and it oozes out somewhere else.
While Kip Hawley is right in that we need to change how we evaluate and respond to risk, it assumes that we are prepared to accept that Bad Things Happen regardless of what governments do. It’s dubious that we’re prepared to do that.
