Speaking at the recent ADMA Global Summit in Sydney, Starwood Hotel’s Phil McAveety described Generation LuXury – the changing hospitality expectations of Gen X and Ys.
McAveety sees the new generation of travellers as being more diverse, younger, female and increasingly from emerging economies making them very different from the middle aged Caucasian male from Europe or North America which seems to be the focus of most of the hospitality industry.
The lessons from McAveety’s presentation weren’t just for hotels, much of his message applies as to almost every other business sector.
3D printing featured heavily, with McAveetry seeing the technology as delivering the personalised experiences demanded by Generation LuXurY, as an example he cited a concierge being able to create a pair of running shoes for a guest in exactly the size and style required for a guest.
Big Data played a role too with McAveety illustrating how hotel managers used to watch for important, valued guests with hidden windows letting them see who was checking into their establishment, a role that’s now carried out by Big Data and social media.
McAveety though had a warning about social media in the risks of giving away business intelligence and intellectual property to the services.
The big risk though is in technology itself – that hotels treat it as an end in itself instead of tools to deliver better experiences to guests.
“It’s not about tech,” warns McAveety. “If so, we are going to lose.”
That’s a lesson all industries need to heed, that technology is a means to the end of delivering better products to customers. Understanding what Generation LuXurY perceive as a better product is one of those uses for tech.
Sitting on Melbourne’s Southbank and tucked in behind the Casino, Crown Metropole is a convenient and comfortable business hotel, particularly if you’re attending conferences at the city’s Exhibition and Conference Centre.
In Sydney, the city’s casino is tucked on an old power station site in an inconvenient location so the locals can – and mainly do – ignore it. Melbourne’s Crown Casino on the other hand, has one of the best locations in the city.
While I’m personally uneasy about the role Crown seems to play in Melbourne’s social and political circles, that location makes the casino’s hotels a very convenient place to stay.
Networking vendor Cisco kindly flew me to Melbourne and put me up in the Crown Metropole hotel, part of the casino complex, for three nights to attend their Cisco Live! conference at the convention centre.
Attending a conference
While Crown Metropole isn’t attached to the conference centre like the Hilton South Wharf, in many ways it’s more convenient being just over the road from the other end of the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre. If your exhibition is in the Eastern end of the building it’s a far shorter walk between the room and the event.
That convenience also translates to seeing the rest of Melbourne with major tram routes nearby and a short walk to Southern Cross Station. For Cheap Charlies, there’s a supermarket and liquor store across the road if you don’t want to partake of the expensive mini bar.
In room facilities
Nice choice of teas in the room
Along with the usual expensive mini-bar, there’s a good range of in room facilities including a nice range of Madame Flavour teas.
In the bathroom there’s also a pleasant range of amenities and very comfortable bathrobes. The bathroom itself has a full size bath to use some of the lotions in.
crown towers hotel room work desk
For the connected traveller though the most important thing are power points and there were plenty available including two easily accessible on the room’s desk. If you need more they are scattered around the room including under the bedside tables.
There’s also HDMI and component video connections to the TV if you want to stream feeds or practice presentations from your laptop. The TV has the standard hotel range of Australian Foxtel channels but lacks some of the international stations.
Wi-Fi is available at an extra charge but I didn’t use it and instead relied on a Telstra 4G hotspot. Some guests did report that they found the hotel’s network could get congested.
Hotel facilities
Outside the room, the hotel has the standard facilities of a five star hotel. The rooftop fitness centre is very nice though while it’s possible to do 25m laps in the pool, it will get crowded during the day. It also appears the gym is open to the public so there will be busy times there as well.
For eating, the first floor has the Mr Hive Restaurant which Cisco were kind enough to host dinner one night. It’s a nice place with good food at standard restaurant prices. Crown has dozens of eating establishments in the complex along with a somewhat expensive food court .
There’s no reason to eat in the Crown complex when its an easy walk into the city for cheaper dining options or down Clarendon Street to South Melbourne. The 96 and 112 trams which stop nearby will take you to St Kilda where there’s no shortage of pubs, cafes and restaurants.
Getting in and out
When it comes time to leave, checkout is easy and the service at all times was professional and courteous. Rooms were made up and cleaned properly. The beds were comfortable and the rooms quiet with very good block out curtains.
Overall, Crown Metropole is a good choice for business travellers attending the Melbourne Conference and Exhbition Centre, it’s also conveniently located for tourists. In all, it’s a good mid-priced hotel.
For the budget conscious business traveller, flying economy is an important way of saving money. In Australia, often that means the choice lies between Virgin and Jetstar.
When you’re self employed, you tend to watch your pennies and choose based on what you get for your money rather than just being focused on the perks when somebody else is paying.
Generally freelancers tend to be flying at the back of plane where it’s not so much worrying about whether Krug or Bolly to entitled executives but whether you’ll get slapped a $70 surcharge for your bag.
In Australia, affordable business flying tends to be between Virgin and Jetstar with Qantas being the best example of an Australian business exploiting its domestic market position while running down international operations.
Tiger doesn’t qualify as an airline suitable for anyone who needs to be somewhere at a given time so it isn’t relevant to business travellers.
Dollars please!
Much of the difference between Jetstar and Virgin are the underlying business models.
Virgin Australia was set up as a low cost carrier to compete against Ansett and Qantas but shortly after Virgin started operations, Ansett went bust and the startup airline found itself the nation’s number two airline.
Under CEO John Borghetti, any pretense of Virgin being a low cost carrier has been dropped and now the service competes on service against Qantas.
Jetstar on the other hand remains true to its roots as Qantas’ low cost operation and it plays firmly from the Ryanair book of screwing money out passengers at every opportunity.
While Virgin isn’t shy at trying to upsell you, booking a ticket though Jetstar involves twenty minutes of declining various options and additions. By the time you finish booking a Jetstar ticket, you’ll often find the price has gone up in the meantime and you have to start again.
Another irritation with Jetstar is its codeshare arrangement with Qantas which means the airline inherits its parent’s screwy seat allocation systems which block out availability based on a passenger’s frequent flyer number.
You will obey
A big difference between Jetstar and Virgin is the customer service, Virgin’s cabin crew tend to be helpful and cheerful while Jetstar’s seem to be on a KPI which encourages frowning and stern warnings.
Jetstar’s attitude to mobile phones is instructive. Unlike Qantas and Virgin who allow passengers to use phones until the cabin doors are closed, Jetstar order customers to shut down before boarding. This is a nuisance if you’re running your own business.
Another nuisance is the airline’s attitude towards laptops where Jetstar’s crew usually insist passengers have to shut down when the plane starts descending rather than when the pilot turns the Fasten Seatbelts sign on Qantas and Virgin.
This sounds trivial but just this alone should be a deal breaker for many small business travellers.
On a one hour Brisbane – Sydney or Sydney – Melbourne flight, this effectively gives a time poor business traveller twenty minutes work time from 90 minutes on the plane.
The Seventh Circle of Hell
The seventh circle of hell in Jetstar’s Melbourne terminal
While we’re on the topic of Jetstar’s Melbourne operations, a special mention should be given to their poorly signposted gates at the airport.
Situated at the most remote part of the terminal building – almost as remote as Tiger’s abysmal tin shed – Jetstar’s gates are disorganised mess that make boarding difficult. The airline advises getting to the gate half an hour before the flight and at Melbourne that is good advice.
For those arriving in Melbourne, getting off the plane involves fighting your way through queues, lost children, Bedouins building campfires and peasants clutching chickens. If you’re really unlucky you may find yourself accidentally trying to board JQ5749 to Wagga Wagga.
What’s good about Jetstar
Decent legroom on Jetstar flights.
Despite airline’s drawbacks Jetstar has some things going for it, the main one is the airline’s modern fleet compared to Qantas or Virgin. Jetstar’s A321s have better leg room than the 737s flown by the other carriers – Qantas’ 767s are comfortable like your grandad’s armchair and almost as old.
If you’re flying longer distances such as Melbourne – Cairns or Perth – Sydney, particularly the ‘red eye’ flights heading east from Western Australia, then Jetstar is the more comfortable choice for economy fliers.
Then there’s cost – usually Jetstar is cheaper than Virgin for most flights and at busy times the cost savings may be worth the irritations – but check fares from all three airlines before booking as sometimes the Airline Gods may decide Qantas has the cheapest fares for the time you want to fly.
As a low cost carrier, Jetstar is the reality of flying’s present and a vision of travel’s future. If you have visions of glamour when catching a flight, then shell out for a business class fare.
Nestled in the caldera of a long extinct volcano on the New South Wales – Queensland state border, Mt Warning is one of the spectacular and quirky geographic features of Australia’s East Coast which boasts being the first place on the continent to see the sunrise*.
Climbing Mount Warning is doable as a day trip from the Gold Coast, Byron Bay or even Brisbane but to get the best experience staying a few nights in the surrounding rainforests is a good idea, particularly in warmer weather when it’s not a good idea to climb mountains in the middle of the day.
Mount Warning Rainforest Park is a private campsite on the road to the mountain offering cabins, powered caravan sites and unpowered campsites.
Camping sites
Unpowered camping sites
We stayed in an unpowered camping site during the September school holidays. Despite it being a busy period, there was plenty of space available and each site had its own campfire. It’s up to you to get the wood.
The sites are comfortable and the ground isn’t too hard for tent pegs. Be warned that it can get cold at night depending on the season.
Beware of snakes!
As the site is in a rainforest, be prepared to meet some of the locals. There’s no shortage of brush turkeys, snakes, lizards and frogs around the grounds so tread carefully at night and don’t leave food lying around.
There are some less desirable locals as well and while the campsite does seem safe, the Mt Warning carpark does have a reputation for thieves. So keep valuables locked away and out of site.
Amenities
There’s plenty of powerpoints and free gas stoves at the camp kitchen, so there’s no problem with charging devices and cooking dinner.
The campsite kitchen with powerpoints.
Some large, ex-commercial fridges are available for residents to store food. Make sure you mark what’s yours and hide anything like chocolates, wine or beer as any communal storage is going to see those things walk.
The camping area toilet blocks are clean and pretty well maintained, although the hot water controls for the showers can be difficult to figure out.
Be prepared for a cold shower until you manage to get the buttons working. The buttons are also outside the shower cubicles so try and grab the stall closest to the controls so you can lean out and press them mid-wash.
Swimming pool and games room
Should the weather turn bad – the area is a rainforest – there is a games room has some basic arcade games ($2 a time), pool table and TV for shelter. Outside is a small, well-maintained swimming pool that’s handy for cooling off in the warmer weather.
It’s safe to say the wi-fi hotspot has become the modern campfire.
Outside the site’s reception is comfortable porch which has seats, coffee tables and free wi-fi. You can expect to find guests on their laptops and iPads at all hours checking email and Facebook posts. There’s also a couple of handy power outlets.
Mobile phone coverage is patchy in the district so don’t expect reliable phone communications or fast mobile data. The site has a Telstra payphone that’s accessible at all times.
Service
The site is family run and service is homely, the office isn’t always occupied so it’s sometime necessary to rouse some office help.
One of the missed opportunities is catering to the gathering of people accessing the wi-fi hotspot, offering drinks and snacks past the office’s 6 o’clock closing time would be nice.
Provisions
The office sells basics and snacks but for serious shopping it’s best to call in at Murwillumbah twenty minutes away which has all the major supermarket and shopping chains. There’s also camping supply stores if you’ve lost or forgotten anything.
Coming in from the West, Kyogle has a small choice of supermarkets while the local village of Uki offers a picturesque pub and general store.
Attractions
While climbing the mountain is the main attraction, there’s plenty of other things to see.
Being Australia’s capital of ‘alternate lifestyles’ there’s no shortage of yoga and healing centres. The hippy capital of Nimbin is picturesque 45 minute drive south.
The Border Ranges and the Gold Coast Hinterland are also worth exploring in their own right with some spectacular scenery and the campsite makes a good base for explorers.
Transport
Like most of rural Australia, there’s little public transport. There is a train service to Kyogle and frequent coaches to Murwillumbah from Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast. A local bus passes the Mt Warning turn off once every weekday and its a fifteen minute walk to the campsite.
Rock sculptures in the creek on the way to Mount Warning
The best way of getting to Mount Warning is by car, taxi or to hire a bike in Murwillumbah. On the way to the campsite you’ll pass a creek where people have build various sculptures out of the rocks.
Costs
The cost for a family of four camping was $50 per night. There’s no extra charge for showers or cooking facilities.
Overall, the Mount Warning campsite is a good, economical place to stay for those happy to sleep out and enjoy the rainforest.
*While many say Mount Warning is the first place on the Australian mainland to see the sunrise, in the summer months parts of southern NSW see the sun earlier due to their latitude. If you count all Australian territories, then various small uninhabited rocks along with Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands see the sun first.
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.
