Jersey.com - live at last!

At the Jersey Hospitality Association AGM we had been told that the re-launch of the new jersey.com website was imminent. Lo and behold this morning there it is.

It all seems to be working OK and the page load speeds have been sorted out. They've replaced those awful maps with Google mapping and the Events page is a whole lot better. I am still disappointed with the imagery - I don't think the size of images forms a big enough impression of the island.

Anyway - it's live at last and that must be a relief to all concerned. There will need to be some answers provided as to why it took 4 months to sort out all the issues and more importantly - how much over and above the initial £250k budget was spent to get to where the website is now.

More support for a Conference Centre

The Jersey Hospitality Association held its AGM yesterday at The Radisson. Robert Jones of Jersey Pottery took over the role of President from Robyn Lapidus - the first non-hotel member to do so in the 50 year history of the trade body.

As regular readers of this blog know, I am keen supporter of a purpose built conference and events centre in St Helier. Yesterday, the idea received further support. Firstly, the JHA confirmed that, in response to the request for comments on the proposed new National Art Gallery, they would not be supporting the project but would rather see the money invested in a conference centre.

Further support came from the guest speaker at the lunch, James Bidwell. James is Chief Executive of Visit London and was invited to speak on the benefits of a Public Private Partnership for Tourism marketing bodies (of which Visit London is a excellent example). However, James also gave his thoughts on what Jersey needs to continue to develop a successful visitor economy and top of the list was.......a conference and events centre.

By way of inspiration, take a look at the River Centre in Tonbridge. Tonbridge and the surrounding district has a local population of about 100k - not dissimilar to Jersey. The centre can accommodate up to 750 people for a conference and is about the size we need here.

Hopefully those involved in the consultation process will take on board the feedback coming loud and clear from our industry - an art gallery will do little to attract visitors to Jersey, whilst a conference and events centre would open up a number of new markets for the island.

Jersey Tourism PPP – Economic Development release final proposals

The creation of a new marketing organisation for Jersey, based on a private public partnership, is possibly the single biggest change in the tourism industry for over two decades. It’s surprising therefore that the release of the final proposal document has taken place without so far a word to the industry from either of the two sponsors. You can download a copy by clicking here.

Locum Consulting were commissioned by the States of Jersey to produce a paper outlining the form that the new organisation could take and how it would function and be resourced. The process has taken a couple of years and has resulted in the production of this final report which has been endorsed by both Mike King, chief executive at Economic Development and Gerald Fletcher, chief executive of the Jersey Hospitality Association.

The new organisation will be called ‘Marketing Jersey’ and will be a non profit-making limited company, controlled by an independent board of directors and funded through the combination of a States grant and private sector finance, raised through membership fees.

Overall, I support the proposals, although I have concerns on three issues:

1) It is proposed that the Board will be made up of 11 individuals – this looks too big to me and could become turgid and incapable of taking effective decisions. A maximum of 8 board members should be the target.

2) The structure of the executive groups – why split prestige and traditional holiday markets into separate groups? The skills required to market these products are the same. Combine the two into one group otherwise the marketing manager is going to be pulled in different directions by separate group chairmen.

3) The biggest concern is funding. According to the document, the JHA have been tasked with bringing forward membership fee proposals – members need to see these proposals before agreeing to go ahead. Moreover what guarantees are there on States funding? Whilst there is a 3 year rolling deal, Treasury will presumably be looking to achieve a phased reduction in the grant provided and there will need to be safeguards in place to ensure that the total pot does not keep falling. There seems to be no guarantee of this within the proposal.

I would urge everyone directly involved or associated with our industry to download the document, digest it and give your feedback to Economic Development and the JHA – which I am sure they would be keen to receive. You can also vote in the poll to the right of this post.

Economic Development want to see the new organisation in place in time to take on 2009 marketing. But in my opinion the industry needs to make sure we have the right organisation with a secure funding structure in place before we commit to such a fundamental change.

Bed Jumping - the latest craze sweeping the world!

It's Friday so I reckon it's OK for a bit of silliness. It's also the day after the Jersey Hospitality Association's 50th Anniversary Dinner (well done Gerald and everyone for organising a great evening!). I was feeling a bit the worse for wear, until someone introduced me to this website bedjump.com.

The website address is self-explanatory. For example this image was taken at The Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon. There are some great images and stories on this site.

This could become a global craze. I'm away on business next week - just might give it a go!

August bed nights static - and tourists booking later

The visitor stats for August are a bit like Jonny Wilkinson's kicking -mixed. The figures are now published (you can view them by clicking here) and at first sight they make for quite encouraging reading. Volume is up 3.7% on 2007 for the month of August and cumulatively for the year up by about 5000 visitors - or just under 2%.

Two points to note however. Firstly the average length of stay has dropped by 3% to 5.48 nights. So if you look at visitor nights, there has been virtually no increase at all. On top of this, the number booking less than 1 month ahead increased from 29% to 34% in August - a pretty dramatic increase in one year. At the same time those booking more than 3 months in advance dropped to 38%. I wonder how long it will be before these two figures cross over?

The fact that Jersey is fast becoming a short break destination, means that we have to adapt our business to deal with a short lead time for bookings and shorter stays. This drives two things - a higher cost per guest and more creative tactical marketing. It also underlines the importance of low cost airlines - much of the last-minute revenue will have been driven by the low fares from the likes of Thomsonfly.

A couple of encouraging signs from August. First time visitors grew by 1% and the average age of staying visitors dropped by 1 year - to 50! At least these stats are moving in the right direction!

September arrival figures are also out and show an increase of just over 1% - it will be interesting to see how these transcribe into staying visitors. As for October - I get the distinct impression that it's proving to be a tough month. Blame the poor summer, the credit crunch or whatever you like, but I reckon numbers are down on last year. We'll see soon enough.

GST – Exemption for the Tourism Industry

The Jersey Evening Post today carries a special 4 page supplement, commissioned by The States of Jersey, putting forward the argument for GST and explaining why it is needed.

Whilst Jersey residents brace themselves for the new tax which is to be introduced in May 2008, visitors to the island next year will be delighted to find that they will not be charged GST on their accommodation at all.

How come? Back in July, a Jersey tour operator put forward a strong case for their prices to be exempt, as they had to finalise the brochure prices before the final details of GST were agreed and would not be able to adjust these once brochures had been printed. The argument for exemption was forcibly put and resulted in the GST office agreeing to make tour operators only exempt on any bookings for 2008. This news emerged via a letter to the tour operator from the man responsible for co-ordinating the introduction of GST, Steve Lowthorpe, at the end of July.

Immediately it became clear that this decision would cause huge administrative difficulties for accommodation operators and, more importantly, was anti-competitive. The situation as it stood, meant that clients booking with a tour operator would not being charged GST, whilst those booking direct with the hotelier would have to stump up the 3%.

Once these issues had been pointed out to Steve Lowthorpe, several further meetings took place with the Jersey Hospitality Association and today we have been advised of the following by Steve Lowthorpe:

‘To provide the JHA and its members with some level of assurance I can confirm that the Minister of Treasury and Resources has agreed "in principle" to allow all bed / accommodation sales to be zero rated under the transitional arrangements of the GST law. This will be allowed for 2008 only and all such supplies will be subject to the standard rate of GST as from 1st January 2009. This decision will still need to be formalised but hopefully the content of this e-mail will provide certainty and the desired equity of treatment between hotels and tour operators.’

So, now it appears that the whole of the Jersey accommodation sector, as well as tour operators will be GST exempt. A great result for the industry who have battled hard for concessions in the past to no avail and well done to Gerald Fletcher at the JHA for his efforts. I am surprised that the Terry Le Sueur has backed down on this & wonder how other industries will react to the news. Surely there are other sectors which are in similar situations with regard to pricing for 2008?

I may even have a small wager that we could see the GST implementation date put back until January 1st 2009. The States are due to debate the law in October – so we don’t have long to wait.

GST - include or exclude in prices?

Last week saw an allocation of tour operators (is there a better name for a collection of these good people?) descending on Jersey to contract hotels for 2008. It just so happened that their visit coincided with the Jersey Hospitality Association's quarterly forum at which the guest speaker was the government's Goods and Services Tax guru, Steve Lowthorpe.

Leaving aside the whole issue of the tour operator margin scheme and on which elements of the package GST will be charged, the main gripe seemed to revolve around the lack of time to prepare. We were promised a full 12 months to deal with the implementation of the tax, but the issue is from what date the clock started ticking. Government says April because that's when the GST law was passed - even though neither the actual date for implementation, nor on what basis it would be applied, had been resolved.

Anyway it looks as if April 2008 is going to be the month when GST comes in. The question is should suppliers include or exclude the tax when issuing rates to tour operators for next year? The decision is mainly down to whether or not the hotel's operating system can be programmed to apply a tax to whatever rates are loaded. If it can, then it surely makes sense to provide rates exclusive of tax, in order that it can be applied at the correct rate on the right date.

So far, operators seem happy with this approach. Has anyone had any different experience or do you have a different view?

GST - it's time to move on

The latest monthly news sheet from the Jersey Hospitality Association includes a feature on the Goods & Services Tax - attacking the government for a lack of information about its implementation and generally going back over the old arguments of the administrative burden, the inflationary impact, how our poor industry will suffer etc. etc.

Guys, it's time to move on. GST at 3% is being introduced in 2008, probably in April and will apply to all our sales. With that information we can plan our pricing for next year and take it into account when budgeting. We now need to concentrate on the challenges the tax presents on top of a 4% inflation rate.

The JHA speak of a 'crucial and delicate time for our industry'. I disagree- this is a dynamic and exciting time for our industry. Let's look at the evidence:

• 300 new hotel rooms in the 4 star sector, opening in the next 3 months.
• New air routes from Heathrow, Luton, Paris & other regional airports.
• New ferry routes from France.
• 2 Michelin star restaurants.
• The creation of an exciting new waterfront retail and leisure centre.

In the last 15 years, there has not been a better opportunity to make a noise about how Jersey has finally shed granny's cardigan and received a makeover. If Jersey Tourism cannot build sales on the back of all this, then heaven help us.

Recruitment - new hotels cause headaches for the rest of the industry

Now that the Radisson and Royal Yacht are getting closer to opening their doors (although I still cannot believe that the Yacht will be ready for June!), their recruitment programmes have started in earnest.

Bearing in mind the size of these hotels and the facilities they offer, there must be a requirement for roughly 300 new employees. From reservation staff to kitchen porters, waiters to housekeepers, these hotels need a lot of people to maintain their standards.

So it’s not unexpected to learn that there have already been cases of other hotels losing staff to the new kids on the block. At this stage it appears to be mainly at the managerial level – with one hotel having lost two senior members of their team to The Radisson. I am sure it won’t be long before the lower tiers of management and staff of existing hotels, are under attack.

Of course, you cannot stop people from moving companies. In particular the attraction of working for an internationally branded hotel, such as The Radisson, must be a mouth-watering prospect to many . This year, Jersey…..next year Cape Town. It means that everyone has to sharpen up their act, work even harder at keeping their teams happy and content with their lot. Nonetheless if and when hotels lose their best people to another hotel, the cost of recruiting and training their replacements is high. The problem is particularly severe within the kitchen brigade – good chefs are like gold dust at the moment.

What about the role of Jersey Recruitment in all this? They have been awarded the lucrative contract for recruiting the team at The Radisson. The issue is that this company is a division of The Jersey Hospitality Association which represents the whole hospitality industry in the island. Is it right that they should be working to fill one hotel, whilst other members suffer? I am not suggesting that Jersey Recruitment are head-hunting from within the island –that would cause them huge problems. But there is a perception out there that the JHA is acting as poacher and gamekeeper.
The next few months are going to provide some challenges for all Jersey’s hotel managers. Have you lost staff to the new hotels recently? Do you have a view?

Confusion reigns with Jersey's new accommodation grading scheme

Oh dear, what on earth is going on with the new grading scheme? It would appear that once again communication has broken down between the Jersey Hospitality Association and Jersey Tourism. Take a look at David Warr's post on his blog - Warr on Words - and you'll see what I mean. I know this is a new scheme, but there's no excuse for this sort of cock-up.