Motel dining is in Australia’s rear view mirror
It used to be that the car or caravan trip across country included a stop at a motel diner for lunch. However, motel dining now no longer has the allure it once did and dining areas in these venues are sitting idle.
Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson told the ABC, "It's been on a steady decline for some years.
"Certainly in the ’60s and ’70s when we built a lot of motels, it was the heyday.
"But we're not building motels anymore."
Former dining spaces are now being used as storage facilities, conference rooms, or common areas.
Around Australia, a growing number of motels are becoming custodians of vacant spaces.
Some motels still serve breakfast, but they are becoming the exception.
"There are not too many motels now that are operating the restaurants or if they are they've cut back their operating hours substantially," Johnson told the ABC.
"What we found today is a lot of motels would rather see you use external restaurants. And they'll just take room revenue as their bread and butter, because of the expense of running a restaurant.
"If you don't have a local market, your in-house market for a motel will not be enough to make it profitable.
"It's also so difficult to get a good chef to come and live in a remote location, or regional locations where the motels are — so many of those restaurants are now meeting rooms."
The number of motels is also declining. Data from Accommodation Australia shows that around 2,700 motels were in existence in 1985. That number has dropped to about 2,400 now.
It’s not all bad news.
According to Johnson, domestic travel has boomed post covid and motels are benefitting.
So are surrounding restaurants, with motels happy to push customers to them to avoid the exorbitant costs of running a dining facility.
Uber eats and similar apps are also regularly used.
Some owners are bucking the trend.
Geetu Nanda's family motel at Tawonga in Victoria's High Country opened a long-forgotten restaurant in the small town.
"This was a run-down business; they had not fully operated the restaurant for 20 years, but it's my passion," Nanda told the ABC.
"We wanted to bring people back and open it again for the community.
Given the isolated location, the rejuvenation of the restaurant has been a hit and is now also attracting tourists who are responding to the authentic Indian cuisine.
Jonathan Jackson, 22nd February 2024
