By Martin Kelly|2020-11-02T15:22:57+10:00October 28th, 2020|Daily News, Hotels, Short Term Rental News|
Pricing is set to get a shakeup in Australia's short term rental (STR) industry from November 1 when Airbnb scraps guest service charges and moves to a 15 per cent host commission only model - up from 3 per cent - for its software-connected hosts and property managers. It is More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-28T15:19:51+10:00October 28th, 2020|Daily News, Short Term Rental News, Short Term Rentals|
The NSW Government says unruly guests and bad hosts will be banned from the short term rental (STR) industry for five years under a new mandatory Code of Conduct it announced yesterday. It's part of a legislative initiative which also requires that all STR properties are registered with Fair Trading More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-29T09:02:54+10:00October 26th, 2020|Daily News|
Nowhere in Australia had a greater proportion of international tourists than far north Queensland pre-COVID. The iconic tourism hubs of Cairns and Port Douglas were packed with big spending Chinese, Japanese, European and American tourists through to March this year. But international border closures have meant zero inbound business over More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-26T10:45:54+10:00October 26th, 2020|Aviation, Daily News|
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce expects the airline group to cut $15 billion from its operating costs over the next three years, mostly through reduced flying with just $1 billion coming from cost cutting. So far Qantas has made at least 8500 staff redundant with the majority of remaining employees stood More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-23T08:51:07+10:00October 22nd, 2020|Daily News, Short Term Rental News|
Leading short term property management platform Guesty reports that sector bookings in Australia grew faster than any other country during September. "In September, we saw a 5% increase in reservation volume worldwide compared to August," the company said. "Australia had the biggest increase in reservation volume worldwide - up 25% More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-20T09:00:45+10:00October 20th, 2020|Daily News|
Australian insurance provider TravelCard - launched at lavish and expensive event just two years ago - has announced it is going into hibernation with the business no longer viable due to a lack of demand caused by border closures. According to insurance industry media repeorts, all current policies remain valid More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-15T13:21:57+10:00October 15th, 2020|Aviation, Daily News|
Jayne Hrdlicka will become CEO of the Virgin Australia Group after the incumbent Paul Scurrah confirmed he would be leaving the business when new owner Bain Capital takes control in early November. Today's Australian Stock Exchange announcement followed intense speculation yesterday that Bain Capital wanted Scurrah out as it repositions More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-14T15:41:02+10:00October 14th, 2020|Daily News, Hotels|
Australia's urban hotel markets will remain in the doldrums until at least early 2021, according to industry datya company STR, which says the recent pattern of regional properties faring much better than their city counterparts should continue for the foreseeable future. "Parallel to other countries across the world, higher occupancy More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-13T07:38:05+10:00October 13th, 2020|Daily News|
Celebrity couple, comedian Hamish Blake and writer wife Zoe Foster-Blake, have been chosen to front a $7 million Australian domestic tourism campaign launched today. “Our Holiday Here This Year campaign is all about galvanizing Australians to support their fellow Australians by booking a holiday wherever they can around the country,” More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-13T07:18:18+10:00October 12th, 2020|Daily News|
One of Australia's top cruise agents, Clean Cruising, says 95% of its revenue has gone since COVID and implored Australian governments to stop dithering and make a call on when cruising can resume so they can have emotional and financial clarity. Because at the moment, says Clean Cruising Director, More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-08T11:35:50+10:00October 7th, 2020|Daily News, Hotels|
Travel badly needs some good news and IHG rolled out the big guns for today's opening of the Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour. Everyone was there to see NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian cut the ribbon: Tourism Australia CEO, Phillipa Harrison; Dean Long from the Accommodation Association of Australia, Margy Osmond More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-08T11:48:07+10:00October 7th, 2020|Daily News|
Travel and other key industries hard-hit by COVID such as hospitality and childcare have been snubbed by the Australian government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured), a former Managing Director of Tourism Australia, in its delayed annual budget, released last night. They've been left behind to fend for themselves as More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-06T14:19:25+10:00October 6th, 2020|Daily News, Hotels|
Travel spend in Australia fell 80% during the June quarter and there was a 67% fall in overnight trips across the country in the three months to June 30, 2020. Hotels, motels and resorts were were hit hardest with a fall in demand of 83% or 20.9 million nights, to More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-12T08:31:59+10:00October 2nd, 2020|Daily News, Hotels, Short Term Rental News|
The adversarial relationship between hoteliers and the OTAs has changed to an "all hands on deck mentality" during COVID with operators no longer insisting on rate parity and last room availability - once major sticking points - as they scramble to put heads on beds, according to Expedia and Agoda. More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-01T14:53:51+10:00October 1st, 2020|Daily News|
Imagine paying $280,000 a year rent for a 100sqm shop after spending $400,000 on a fitout. How the hell do you make any money? The answer is you don't. The above figures are behind the demise of one Sydney travel business in a major northern suburbs shopping centre. No doubt More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-10-08T11:17:59+10:00September 29th, 2020|Daily News, Short Term Rental News|
Airbnb Australia says pet friendly listings are the most searched for amenity, while there's been a surge in popularity for back to nature accommodation experiences. People are also tending to stay longer and book later than they did pre-COVID, says Airbnb country manager Susan Wheeldon. "Unique listings - such as More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-28T10:31:55+10:00September 28th, 2020|Daily News|
The Australian Government has announced $150 million regional tourism funding including a $50 million Regional Tourism Recovery marketing fund to help regions reliant on international tourism to attract domestic business, and $100 million for regional tourism infrastructure as part of the Building Better Regions initiative. Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-25T08:09:26+10:00September 24th, 2020|Daily News|
Evan Petrelis is the renaissance man of Australian travel - pun intended. Petrelis and his team at Renaissance Tours, which has been running high-end guided trips to the world's cultural capitals since 1997, have flipped the business and are now focusing purely domestic travel, a move that has won favour More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-24T11:25:33+10:00September 23rd, 2020|Aviation, Daily News|
Booking lead times contracting, domestic travel up, more one-way flights being booked as people return home for extended periods or want to escape a bad situation. These are the three major aviation trends revealed in a new report - A New World of Travel - released by Skyscanner this week. More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-23T10:35:30+10:00September 22nd, 2020|Daily News, Hotels|
Accor Pacific, Australia's largest hotel operator, says Queensland hotels will run at 30% occupancy for months and some may be forced to close unless the Queensland government sets a border reopening date. "This is not just bad news for the hotel business, but has a knock-on effect for local business More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-24T11:27:02+10:00September 21st, 2020|Daily News|
TripADeal founders Richard Johnston and Norm Black (pictured) have ceded control of the business they founded in 2011, selling 55% of the company to BGH Capital, which is in the process of buying theme park operator Village Roadshow. Like so many travel companies, TripADeal, which describes itself as an "online More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-21T15:04:30+10:00September 21st, 2020|Daily News, Short Term Rental News|
Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah says he regrets not providing certainty to employees the airline stood down for months - many of them without pay - by making them redundant sooner. Scurrah said in an interview at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit that if he had his time again: More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-18T12:19:01+10:00September 18th, 2020|Daily News|
The West Australian government today announced a $3 million support package for the state's travel agents, whose businesses have been decimated by COVID travel restrictions. It will provide packages of up to $5,000 to home-based agents and minimum $10,000 packages to brick-and-mortar businesses. To qualify, travel agents must have an More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-17T10:08:15+10:00September 17th, 2020|Daily News|
Travellers can now access a new COVID travel web resource from Tourism Australia. The ‘Australian COVID Travel Portal' aggregates key safety information, travel restrictions and guidelines from every state and territory. It includes current status of all state and territory borders and associated travel restrictions, relevant information on transport, hotels More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-24T11:27:45+10:00September 16th, 2020|Daily News|
Web in Travel Singapore is heading back to the future in a very modern way when the 15th edition of the event returns from September 28 to October 1. The first three days of WiT Experience Week 2020 - themed “Travel Zero.O: Back To The Future” - will be 100% More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-15T16:14:56+10:00September 15th, 2020|Daily News|
Youcamp, which pioneered the concept of camping on private land in Australia, has been sold to US company Hipcamp, which in rapid succession has closed the site, migrated its content to the parent portal, rebranded it Hipcamp Australia and introduced a controversial customer service free that can exceed 20 percent. More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-14T12:38:45+10:00September 14th, 2020|Daily News, Hotels|
Rydges on Swanston, the hotel central to Victoria's second COVID wave, has sold for a reported $35 million. Selling agent Colliers International says: "The strong buyer response was due to the property’s prime location, development upside, and limited supply of assets of this quality being offered to the market." A More ...
By Martin Kelly|2020-09-11T08:12:08+10:00September 11th, 2020|Aviation, Daily News|
Virgin Australia (VAH) has finally killed off its low-cost carrier Tigerair Australia, according to multiple media reports. The carrier, which has been grounded since late April, was originally going to be mothballed by VAH and resurrected when travel recovered post-COVID . But in a customer email obtained by Yahoo Finance, More ...