There is plenty in our interview that you can apply to your business whether you are large operator or a small B & B.

5 Key Take-outs from Ken include:

1. Research underpins all business decisions
2. The customer is central to everything
3. Much of what the Mantra Group does in terms of marketing is available to everyone for free
4. Respect all reviews, regardless of being positive or negative and always respond to negative reviews
5. Ensure your staff understands why you are asking them to do things like collect email addresses.

Bronwyn: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your back ground.

Ken: Without giving away my age, but I do sound very old, and I am.  Well I started off in the advertising industry in the early 80s.

Bronwyn: Did you have a ponytail?

Ken: I did have the long hair, it’s a shocking look and I hate to be reminded, and the cheese cloth pants and all the rest. Yes.  And then I realized after a number of years that it was better to work on the client side than the agency side because you get to then boss around agency people which I think is so much more fun.

I was fortunate enough to join Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow working initially in their theme park business and a number of other of their businesses, and I ended up staying with them for 14 years which was a wonderful time for me. And I learned a hell of a lot from some very good marketers, but then I thought it was time to do something else, and that’s basically how I ended up in the hotel game.

I’ve been with the Mantra Group now for a little over 5 years.

Bronwyn: Mantra Group is doing big things really at the moment – diversifying and acquiring and all sorts of businesses, tell us about that.

Ken: Yes, we’re the second largest hotel group in Australia.  Our head office is here in Australia, and we manage over 110 hotels in Australia and New Zealand. And, we are expanding into Asia.

Bronwyn: I came across a press release late last year informing us that Peppers Broadbeach increased their occupancy levels by 52%.  It is going against the trend of much of the tourism industry.  Most of Australia at the moment is either stagnant, in decline or growing in very small numbers.  Can you tell us a little about this?

Ken: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been working for Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow.  The people I reported in to and was fortunate enough to have worked with were actually from the film production side of the business, and in the film industry they spent a lot of money around research.  And particularly with films, when you’re investing in some cases over 100 million on a film you do a lot of research to make sure it’s going to work

So from them I actually learned a lot as far as the research and how it can work for you and how it can help you with your decision making, and got very much committed to what you can achieve.  In those days with Warner Brothers, we had huge budgets when it came to research.  These days, within the Mantra Group, we don’t have the same sort of budget. However, it is a lot easier to do your market research than ever before.

Bronwyn: How has that changed, in what sense?

Ken: Well just with marketing generally, your ability to communicate with your guests, with your clients has changed. The web has changed just the way we do so many things in so many ways, and research is definitely one of them.  The days in the hotel game, once you used to depend very heavily on a guest filling out a guest comment card.

The reliance on those cards is very different these days.  To understand your guest and their opinion of you, you cannot afford to rely on that information.  These days you have websites set up that are monitoring on a continual basis. The biggest one that everyone in the hotel game depends very heavily on is obviously Tripadvisor, and basically that provides a vehicle for consumers to make comment on your particular property.

Bronwyn: So you consider Tripadvisor a big part of how you find out what your customers are saying and what they want?

Ken: Very much the case.  We actually have a program, a company that works for us. Apart from Tripadvisor, they basically review all of the social media platforms.  So every week I get a report on a Sunday night, which is always fun to read, which basically they scout all of the social media and advises us on all 110 plus properties on what people are saying about us.  At the same time we have individual property managers who are getting this report as well, and in some cases on a daily basis because it is that important understanding what our guests are saying about us.

And we also learn about our competition as well.

Bronwyn Tripadvisor is fantastic because obviously you’re a big company, but it’s free and easy for some of the small operators to go on to Tripadvisor and have a look at what people are saying about them, what they’re saying about their competitors as well. And the other thing too is again if you don’t have the funds to have a big outsource firm doing social media monitoring, you can go to Google Alerts which is also a free service and monitor what people are saying about you online as well.

Ken: And that’s exactly right, and look this is a particular service. We only put it on about 12 months ago now.  And yes, I used to spend my Sundays doing exactly what you’re saying.  You have Google Alerts, and we still have media monitors as well, so we’re measuring what the media is saying about us at the same time. But yes, to spend my time now and select certain properties and go and have a look at their Tripadvisor, what was being said there, what’s being said on Wotif If and all the other different platforms, and we have a number of different criteria that we measure, whether it’s on the brand strength, whether it’s on cleanliness of rooms, food and beverage.

Bronwyn: Yes, and it’s really interesting that you’re talking about this whole emerging field of reputation management.  The question I get asked a lot from operators, when you get negative reviews, what do you do and what do you advise people out there to do with your experience?

Ken: You have to be honest with yourself, that’s number one.  And for someone to have taken the time, and we know some people are I’ll use the word whining, but that’s important…

Guests have the right to make a comment, and you need to understand that it is our responsibility to look at these sites and these comments and get back to the people.

We do have a system in place where when people are checking out we ask them immediately how their stay has been, have they got any concerns, etc. and we try and deal with those immediately before they’ve actually had the opportunity to go onto one of the sites, which is the best way to handle it. But if they have gone onto the site, you need to investigate what has been said, why has it been said, and understand if there is an issue there. In most cases there is, and the consumer does have that right. And it’s just a matter of dealing with it.

Bronwyn:  So do you reply online if there is negative feedback?

Ken: Yes, we do. If there is any issue positive or negative you should take that time to reply.

Bronwyn:  That’s great advice, because a lot of people just don’t know what to do.  And I guess just take the emotion out of your reply to them as well is really important.

Ken: It is you know.  There are certain people that definitely shouldn’t be replying.  Again look at it honestly and as you said take that emotion out of it because you can go too far defending yourself.  Just try and understand what the particular issue is.

Bronwyn: I want to talk about that is the recent campaign with Peppers Broadbeach. How did you increase your occupancy levels by 52%?

Ken: First of all it is a great product and we have ensured that the services that we provide there is state of the art, and we do very much a listen to the guests and what people are looking for within our whole group.

Our positioning line is knowing what matters, and knowing what matters is basically researching all of our different and with Peppers Broadbeach, because it was a new build we had the opportunity to do that and to offer the services that people were then crying out for.

You have some wonderful properties that are here on the Gold Coast and it’s a very competitive market.  So as far as this particular property is concerned, it is positioned very much as a luxury stay.  It does cater for couples but very much it also caters for families.  We have got the best product offerings there.

Our research showed there as far as the price point what people were willing to pay.  It also showed what facilities they were looking for.  And basically we were able to cater for all of those.  There are 26 Peppers properties throughout Australia and New Zealand.  Within our group we have a database of over a million people through email.

It gives us the ability to target our guests with a message.  We obviously dissect that market, that data base, and determine what people are looking for.  So we’ve been able to do that.

So yes, occupancy is quite incredible not only for the Gold Coast but for any hotel in the nation.

Bronwyn:  So when you’re doing your research to find out how the best mix of product, right people, price, promotions.  How did you do that research?

Ken: Actually there are a lot of tools that are available within the hotel industry.  We collect data again from all of our competitors as far as the pricing is concerned. You understand what has been done in the marketplace.  And we had an opportunity to do a little bit of testing as far as price range is concerned because of the database again.  We also operate a number of other properties here on the Gold Coast so we knew what works as far as price point is concerned.

Bronwyn: What type of research you used and conducted?

Ken:  We do research on the Peppers brand as well.  That is qualitative research.  And we also do some quantitative on that as well in the old traditional ways.  There was a lot of trying to understand as I said what mattered to guests who wanted to stay on the Gold Coast but also wanted to stay in the Broadbeach area because the Gold Coast is divided into a number of different sectors and people are looking for different attributes from each.

Bronwyn:   And did you use the database as well?

Ken: Yes.

Bronwyn: That’s the importance of collecting those email addresses, but no only collecting the email addresses, when you do, asking them if they’d be willing to be contacted for market research.

Ken: Again, you’ve got these guests staying with you. That’s why we spend a lot of time educating our reception people so that they understand why we’re doing things.  It wasn’t so long ago we were looking at our email captured rates. They were quite low.  We put a program in place first of all educating people on why we were trying to collect this data and then demonstrating to them how we use the data. And now we capture close to 90% of all people’s email addresses that are staying with us.

Bronwyn: Yes, that’s really key to ensure all of your staff are involved.  Not only that they’re involved and they’re going through the process but understand why you’re asking them to do these things.  It’s really important.

Ken: And the same goes when people are checking in and checking out, you have that opportunity to talk to them.  Now in some properties, particularly with a corporate traveller, they just want to get in and get out as quick as they possibly can.  You’ll find with the leisure stays, the guest actually does like to be communicated with in a friendly atmosphere, talking about the rate, talking about what they’re looking for.  And you can gather a lot of information that way.

Bronwyn: Yes, just by informally asking questions that way. That’s market research.

Ken: Every time you’re communicating with a guest or anyone to us that’s market research.

Bronwyn:  So obviously you used a mix of paid and free tools when deciding how to conduct your marketing campaigns.  What are some of the free things? You had your database, so you collected the names.  Did you use any other research in the market at all?

Ken: Again, we’re fortunate, everyone is fortunate. Social media is huge.  What you can gather and learn from Facebook. We have Facebook pages for all of our brands, restaurants, etc.    It’s amazing what people are willing to comment on and give you feedback on.  We have someone who works the pages and they’re just asking questions from different times helping people out and it makes a huge difference.  Again, go on Tripadvisor, have a look at what people are saying about your competitors.

 All those things are free. Yes it does take a little bit of time, resource time that way.  But anyone can do it.

Bronwyn:  So when it comes to your customers and this particular campaign, did you do any customer profiling at all?

Ken: Yes, we do.  We work with a company who analyses all of the data that we collect at check in. So basically we are looking at all that data, where those people are coming from, what are the attributes of the suburbs, etc., etc.  And you know that information obviously through the census data that is collected matched against that, we can tell a lot about our guests.

From the Peppers Broadbeach example, again we do have a number of properties in that region, so we were able to compare who was staying in Broadbeach, who was staying in other places within the Gold Coast region, marrying that against other Peppers properties that we had, and we build a profile on the kind of people that will stay at these properties. And look, it’s interesting when you talk about a luxury product.  People immediately think that it’s only high income earners that stay. That’s not the case. People aspire to be able to stay at these properties and the message and how you communicate with those people is different. But there’s a huge market that we’ve been fortunate enough to attract to our properties.

Bronwyn: That’s a really interesting point actually.  Sometimes it’s the attitudes and the aspirations rather than the household income that determines where people stay.

Ken: Correct. I always get amazed. You know you talk to people staying at the properties and a lot of them have saved very hard to be able to stay and it’s a special treat. We know that. Particularly when you get a couple who’s getting away, and that can be mom and dad, it doesn’t have to be a young couple without children.  Couples getting away and staying at properties, and Peppers Broadbeach there are a lot of people staying, and then celebrating a particular event is big.  And then you’ve got the families, and we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to marry those two with a product like that.

Bronwyn:  What are your can’t go wrong tips for businesses out there in terms of marketing to the tourism industry?

Ken: First of all never make decisions based on what you think yourself and what your own desires are, etc.  You need to do the research and understand who your guest, consumer, client is going to be.  As I said, knowing what matters, what is important to those people is just imperative.  And the more information that you can gather, the better it is. Take the time to build that knowledge base, and then take the time to research.  I’m a big believer in post research, understanding what has happened after someone has stayed with you, understanding when you’re fortunate enough to be able to run those campaigns.   We’ve done a of research on Pat Rafter (spokesperson) and how he related to our product…. and how consumers related to Pat, that was prior to us signing him up, and some post research on him as well, and we’ve seen how that works for us.  In the Peppers case, we did research a couple of years ago and we know that our Peppers guests love food and beverage.  They love their wine, they love their food, and even down to the family and the kids, it’s an important aspect of any holiday.

Now we’ve taken that and we work with Gourmet Traveler now and we have a food trial, and it’s a very important part.  We’re continually researching how our guests relate to all of that.  I learned a lot when I was working for Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow as far as research and understanding the guests and this applies for every industry, particularly in the hospitality industry.

Relaxing on a Gulyet, Turkey

The response to Bronwyn’s recent piece on the joys of domestic travel has made me realise how useful it is to have a point of comparison.  It gives us some perspective.

Last year I spent 5 weeks in Turkey on an (ahem) detailed research trip to make that comparison.  It’s a useful comparison because, according to the very useful Economist World in Figures app, Turkey actually sits quite close to Australia in the world tourism rankings on inbound benefit.  It’s derived from more visitors spending less but nevertheless we’re pretty close.  Like Australia, Turkey is also a fairly large country with some world class natural attractions.

We both also have economies that have benefited from the resources boom.

In other ways, the comparison is less fair. Turkey sits only about 3 hours from some of the world’s highest per capita spending outbound tourism markets and its built environment contains significantly more cultural and heritage activities. This is not to decry the amazing cultural history of the First Australians, simply to say that often it is quite remote and it doesn’t involve a lot of buildings.

In the other direction, Turkey is further away than Australia from some of the world’s fastest growing tourism markets. Whilst fast growing, there is still a great deal more poverty in Turkey than there is in Australia.

The first thing that struck me is the difference in how Turkey is utilising its wealth from resources to benefit tourism.  Everywhere we went new infrastructure projects were underway. Almost every town we visited had a brand spanking new bus station, well integrated into local public transport networks and with cafes and shops.  Museums, art galleries and historic houses were often being renovated with new interpretive material. New rail links are being built and trains are being upgraded. Turkey has been successfully attracting funding from major international bodies, as well as from private finance. Turkey is determined that the resources boom will leave it with an improved situation for both its citizens and visitors. Last week, it announced it will build the world’s biggest airport at Istanbul to take advantage of its geographic location. And guess what, it isn’t 300km from the city it’s meant to serve?

For a Sydney-sider I wanted to weep when I saw their well-integrated public transport system.  An Istanbulkart is widely available from newsagents and enables access to trams, ferries, buses and trains with one card.  The system is easy to use and the trams were full of tourists availing themselves of these amazing opportunities. (Obviously Melburnians can feel a bit smugger, although a recent visit there made it clear how hard it is to get a ticket for a visitor.)

The network of buses connecting cities is frequent and moderately priced, with new buses with refreshments and wifi. Our first ‘bus hostie’ was a genial giant leading me to a nickname for them all as ‘Hagrid’. The fact that I did this is a measure of the engagement and affection.

But Turkey is also better at many of the things that give visitors things a memorable experience as well as any easy one.

Our preference is to stay in small family run hotels.  In Australia, this would probably mean the uniform bedspread, cane furniture and pictures on the wall at around $150-200 a night. In Turkey, even the most modest hotel would seek to personalise the experience with cushions, rugs or pictures reflecting local culture or history.

Free tea and coffee was a common offering with attractive common areas.  Drinks like beer were in a communal fridge and were charged at very competitive rates (typically the same or very little more than supermarket rates), encouraging one to drink there rather than bring it in.

Dining and common areas were situated on roofs, balconies or around the pool with attractive gardens or fruit trees.

The Turks have also grasped the importance of the digital revolution and how it can help guests, but also help them. Every hotel (even the one that cost us 20 Euros a night) offered us free wifi.  Even those fantastically cost effective buses had free wifi.  And everyone proudly displayed their TripAdvisor ratings and encouraged us to post reviews (whatever our opinions). In contrast, I find many in Australia either want to ignore TripAdvisor or regard it as an enemy.

It remains an irony for me that I had better internet coverage staying in a cave hotel in Turkey than I can get even in Australia’s capital cities!

A larger proportion of accommodation and attractions could be booked over the internet than Australia.  Even in conservative Konya, we were able to book our hotel over the Internet in real time.  The only place we found this to be an issue was in Goreme – and it significantly changed our accommodation choices.

If you want to see what is possible, I would check out the websites of the Dov Metsim in Pamukkale or the Homeros in Selcjuk.

Visiting Turkey also made me realise that we can’t be complacent about advantages like the quality and freshness of our produce. We met many Australians on our travels and everyone raved about Turkish food based on tasty, beautiful and seasonal produce at exceptionally good prices.   In Australia’s capital cities and in a few key foodie destinations you might see that, but even the more off the beaten track locations in Turkey could provide it.  We can still be proud of our produce, but we need to be able to experience it more consistently across Australia.

Although the Turks have a long history and tradition of hospitality, it’s also because they recognise the importance of tourism to their economy.  They’ve successfully combined the two. In Australia, it often feels like we tolerate tourists for their money, but don’t really like them.  In Turkey, you felt that people were proud to show you their country and genuinely welcomed visitors. That of course was a convincing reason to return – as I heard from many Australians who had become advocates for Turkey.

The most interesting thing about this is that the Turkish government gives a lot less direct support to tourism businesses than we enjoy here in Australia.  Often businesses in Turkey have had to figure out what to do and how to market for themselves.  So one of our points of comparison should realise how lucky we are that we have the network of support and education we have.  And perhaps to pause before we feel we need more help.

I’m not saying that the Turkish experience is perfect.  I’ll talk in a further blog piece about what we could share that might be useful for them, but I do think there are a few things we could learn. Most notably:

-    Love our customers, think creatively about what they want (and give it to them)
-    Recognise that giving them the means to find us and tell other people about us online can only help our businesses
-    Recognise the strengths of our offer, but don’t be complacent about it
-    Be grateful for what we have and look beyond it not to it

But if we do want more help, perhaps the best way is to keep the pressure on to get the infrastructure that ensures tourism (which has suffered from the resources boom … link to TRA articles) gets a lasting legacy for our businesses

 

Back when I was a kid, we stayed in on-site vans.  Then Dad got a job as a sales rep for Jayco in the late 70′s when the pop-up was all the rage.  We always had the latest pop-up to try, great times. I have such fond memories of these types of holidays.  You would be reunited with the same kids every year at your regular caravan park and run riot all day.  And we were always in search of a Caravan Park with the best trampoline.

These days, I am all grown up with kids of my own.  I am hoping to give them the same great Aussie caravan park culture experience year after year in the Summer holidays to come. And now it seems, we have the ‘deluxe’ cabin replacing the onsite van and the ‘Holiday Park’ replacing the caravan park.

Now, with my tourism research and marketing consultant hat on, I wanted to write this blog piece because at certain times during our family holiday, I was jolted back in time to the countless number of family focus groups I have moderated in regards to domestic travel.  Both Carolyn Childs and I have worked extensively in this area for many years – in fact, we developed Domesticate back in 2006. And, this was my first holiday where I have evolved from the DINK to the Family.

I got to thinking back to all the family focus groups I had conducted and all the things I heard and subsequently reported on (and still reporting on).  In this blog piece, I want to specifically revisit pricing and how pricing is still an area that can provide opportunities for tourism businesses to stand out and generate new business.

We were lucky to stay at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world on the NSW Coast.  We chose a caravan park we have been visiting for around 20 years or so.  Chris, my husband used to go there.  Then we met and we used to go there at every opportunity to get away.  We were hoping to continue the tradition.  And this time, we were going to our special place as a family.

We have gone from a couple to 2 adults and 3 children pretty rapidly…Our twins are 4 years old and my older daughter is 5.  Going on holidays and getaways was all pretty straight forward as DINK when it came to pricing, but this time around, I found I was living the focus group.  This is not an exaggeration, but pretty well every family focus group, we have moderated over the last 8 years or so has made mention of the confusing pricing structures when a family wants to travel within Australia.  This is one of the main attractions of an overseas holiday, particularly for families.

We have heard over and over people say “with overseas holidays  or a cruise, we tend to know what we are paying up front, no little surprises, not asterisk or extra costs”.  This is a common customer perception and continues to be so of a holiday in Australia.   Here is my personal story to add to the equation.

We called in April to book our January holiday.  We were quoted a rate for the cabin at $183 per night.  When it came time to check out, I was advised that it would also be $12 per night per child.  This added up to $36 extra per night over 7 nights – an extra $252 to our week. So the per night cost  was now $219 per night instead of $183. This was a bit of a surprise.

I had received a confirmation letter in the middle of the year, stating I had booked 7 nights in an executive cabin at $183 per night.  I just kind of assumed that was the price, why wouldn’t it be?  It said that was the price for the dates. They also slipped in an A5 rate card – no referral to it in the letter.  Now, I want to say, there was a pricing table on the card stating with the famed **asterisk (the asterisk is also a hot topic in every focus group).  I didn’t look at the A5 card properly when I received my letter back in April.  I thought I had all I needed in the ‘confirmation letter’.   The card stated as it was pointed out to me at check out, that there was an extra charge per child. But this wasn’t obvious to me and was different to what was in my letter.

On reflection, I had read my confirmation letter with the dates and the price of the cabin, in my view, I was good to go. I didn’t really see the thing about the kids on the rate card. I missed it, not sure how or why but I did, as had so many participants in my focus groups.  But I guess this is my point, it was not straight forward, it was confusing and I missed it.  Perhaps it was me.

The other thing was,  we were told to BYO bedding and towels.  So, this was doonas, sheets and pillow cases for 5.  Beach Towels for 5 and bath towels for 5.  This takes up and enormous amount of space, we are not campers with space saving sleeping bags, but cabin goers.  I mentioned to the operator (in a friendly tone) that I was in the industry and in my experience that extra nightly costs for bodies generally correlated with the need to bring in a rollaway and bedding, usually from an outside company and this I could reason with.  I was then told why should a couple pay the same price as a family?  Hmmm. Interesting. Kind of killed the mood.

During the holiday, we went for a drive – this is something I love to do since I work in the travel industry, to check out some of the other places – caravan parks and a ‘resort / holiday park’ in the surrounding beaches…Yes, my work is my hobby, but how lucky am I often wonder.

We found a holiday park just up the road and decided to have a drive around.  We were impressed.  Another beautiful location.  The cabins were actually of a higher standard than our usual spot.  I got out of the car and went to inspect one of the beach cabins and get a closer view with my ‘Mother’ hat on – I needed to see the kitchen etc.  It was being cleaned. The housekeeping ladies told me to go in and have a look.  They asked me about my kids and told me the other type of cabin would be better because of their age – they shouldn’t be in bunks, but they could put the 2 king singles together and they could all sleep in that.

I decided that when I got back to Sydney, I would check out the pricing of both holiday parks – the new one and our old one.  When I called reservations, they asked me when I was booking, did I have children and how many, then quoted the ‘family price’ – I can live with this.  It was a price for families that included anything from 1-4 kids. But the price is the price is the price. And it was different for couples, slightly cheaper, but at least I knew up front and clearly what my price was going to be.  It was a nightly rate inclusive of body count, big and small bodies in a total beach front ocean villa.  The price was also actually cheaper than our usual spot and provided a kids club,- kids activities and bedding, linen and towels…ahhh I thought, why can these guys supply linen and towels and the others can’t with the same constraints.

So, after 20 years, we are going to try someplace new.  Our needs have change, and for a slightly cheaper price, I get many more inclusions and it is straight forward.  I recognise our needs have changed, but I kind of wish our old place would have been, I don’t know, a little nicer to me.

On reflection, I reckon that the thing that tipped me over was attitude and the bedding and towels – do you know how much space that amount of doonas, bedding and towels takes up in a car? And we had a Tarago.  Both properties are clearly targeting couples as well as families – the cabins at our old holiday park can take 4 kids with 2 adults.  They advised that because they are so remote, they can’t cater to linen.  I wondered as both accommodations are as remote as each other. Maybe I was fed a ‘porky pie’…this is what I think now whether it is true or not. I wonder if this is what other people are thinking too.

It also got me thinking about the revenue forgone over the next 15 years of holidays to our old holiday park.  With our ‘big holiday’ and our short getaways, it might be a couple of thousand a year over 15 years.  This is around $30 000.  Plus the people I have told about our experience.

It you would like to read excerpts of the original Domesticate report, you may refer to the Tourism Research Australia website and report Changing Consumer Behaviour Impact on the Domestic Tourism Market.  Here is a sample of our findings back in 2006, still with some relevance:

“Initially the issue is rationalised around price. In actual fact, it is inflenced by two factors.
– One is that the way many overseas holidays are priced accords more closely with the
ways consumers understand the “real” cost of a holiday (upfront, known quantity)
whereas with Australian costs are more on-going and hard to estimate.”
Domesticate 2006

Our knitted nativity set – CWA shop Tarcutta.

Every Christmas we drive to Melbourne with the kids to visit Mum and Dad so I get to reconnect with regional Australia.  This is often with somewhat mixed feelings.  I have worked with regional tourism for many years now in a marketing and market research capacity so I guess I travel not only as a ‘traveller’ but also with an eye on the game.

Essentially what I notice, is there is so much opportunity for tourism businesses to shine and untapped opportunity.  Here are a few of the highs and lows of my family road trip.

 1.  Regional produce and and excuse to stop.  The Hume Highway is a boring road, with boring stops and not much going for it along the way.  It by-passes most of the lovely regional towns. We usually stop at a small town called Jugiong, North of Gundagai.  Why do we stop there?  For the sole purpose of visiting the Long Pantry Cafe.  And so do scores of others it seems.  The Long Pantry Cafe is not just a cafe, but I would term it these days as its own little destination along the way, created by enterprising owners obviously looking to tap into the thousands of travellers forced to travel boring Hume. It provides a great excuse to stop and get off the road.

The place is usually packed in holiday season.  And even in low season, there is always people in there.  A gorgeous cafe, regional produce,green space for the kids outside to run around and a fruit and vege shop along side a furniture and wares store. And GOOD COFFEE. Why are there there not more places doing this with the volume of traffic along the Hume?

2.  The Hume by-pass is killing regional towns along the way.  OK, it is progress, and with 3 kids in the back seat, every minute we can save the better. Last year we were disappointed that Tarcutta was officially ‘bypassed’.  We usually stop there instead of Holbrook.  They have a nice shaded park for the kids and it is next to a CWA shop.

Opportunity….if there was a big sign on the hwy saying “CWA shop open now” – get your pickles, jams and preserves” it would provide a great excuse to get off that highway.  Last year we bought our relishes and picked up a knitted nativity set.  They type of thing you would only ever come across in a CWA shop.

In all our research, we see that travellers are looking for authentic country experiences and an opportunity to mingle with the locals.  Tarcutta was always a great place for us to do that. The infamous submarine town of Holbrook will be ‘bypassed’ next and this will slowly kill the town.  Unfortunately in talking to people along the way, it seems councils are not proactive in trying to reinvent the towns to provide opportunity.  They are still talking about the possibility of the truckie museum hall of fame in Tarcutta, but guess what, it will be far too late.  It is a shame I think.

3. Toilets. Yes, here I go again.  The toilets are so disgusting on the highway, I am not sure who is responsible to clean the toilets and the surrounding areas.  This time I had to introduce my young girls to the joys of squatting behind a tree.  Unfortunately noticing the rubish and a needle obviously at some point containing a product assisting a truckie in making his Melbourne to Brisbane trip in one hit…literally speaking.

If your regional town can put a sign on the highway – “Cleanest Toilets On The Hume”, the cafe next door and the town will boom.  I guarantee. Toilets alone are consistently a concern of road trip travellers in just about every research study we undertake, one of the number one reasons people will stop in a town.  Yes, people will leave the highway, go out of their way for a clean loo.

4.  Terrible coffee (exception Long Pantry Cafe).  The first cafe or truck stop to sell decent coffee will make a motza.  We want your pimply faced barista to do his course to learn how to make decent coffee. And listen to him when after his one day course in Melbourne he wants to source his beans from the fair trade coffee plantation in Sumartra.  He will make you lots of money.

5.  It cost the same to say in a dodgy regional hotel room as it did in the 5 star Stamford Plaza in Melbourne.  OK, the Stamford Plaza didn’t throw in the free random (not ours) pubic hair in the bathroom, but it gave us free breakfast and valet parking.  I will leave it at that…

Regional travel is filled with highs and lows, that is big highs, big lows and a bit of mediocrity in between.  What I see is opportunity and lots of it.  Opportunity to tap into the traffic of travellers along the way.