Princes Park Accommodation

The Best Western Convention was held from the 1st until the 4th of August at the Crown Convention Center in Melbourne.

It was a great few days spent meeting and greeting suppliers, other property owners and Best Western Head Office Staff. The food at the Convention Center was superb and enjoyed by all. The evening functions held at Crown in The River Room and Studio 3 were a huge success and the venues were ideal for our needs. The views of Melbourne from these rooms were amazing.

Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn was the winner of 2 awards for excellence at the Best Western Australia convention. We received the award for the Best Staff Member for our Motel Manager Nantha and we also received the award for Most Improvements and Upgrades for the renovation work we have been doing around the property. Receiving these awards is a great boost to our property and such an honour.

The annual Best Western Convention is going to be held in Melbourne this year from the 1st until the 4th of August.

It is normally a great chance for Best Western properties from all over Australia and New Zealand to meet with new and current suppliers and see what is on offer to add to our properties. We get a lot of ideas from these suppliers by seeing the products they have and how we can use them in our rooms to improve the guest experience while staying with us.

We also get a chance to meet with other Best Western Property Owners/Managers and talk to them about their properties. We hear about the different things they do in their business and try and learn from each other’s experiences.

The team from Best Western Head Office in Sydney is also at the convention teaching us all about the different Best Western marketing promotions, loyalty programs and general information to do with the Best Western Chain.

The highlight of the Convention is the Gala Dinner which is held on the last night of the convention which will be the 4th of August. At the dinner, awards are handed out for different categories. We have been nominated for 3 categories this year. They are Best 3.5 Star Property, Most Improvements and Upgrades and Best Property Staff Member for our Hotel Manager. We are a strong contender for all 3 awards especially after all of our recent room and exterior refurbishment and our incredible Hotel Manager, Nantha, who redefines what excellent service is all about.

1946 Best Western Motels was founded. The hotel chain began as a referral system between various properties recommending other establishments to travelers in the western part of the USA west of the Mississippi River.
1962 Best Western Chain had the first and only Reservations Service that covered USA and Canada and began using the Crown Logo to identify properties
1963 Best Western was the biggest hotel chain with 699 properties
1964 A group of motels east of the Mississippi River formed a chain called Best Eastern
1966 Best Western and Best Eastern joined under the Best Western name. The head quarters moved from California to Arizona. A major expansion of Best Western services was announced.
1977 The ‘World’s Largest Hotel Chain’ became the theme for Best Western advertising
1980 Best Western brought in nearly 300 international properties into the Best Western membership bringing the total membership to 2654 hoteliers worldwide
1981 The Best Western hotel reservations center was established inside the Arizona Center for Women which was a minimum security correctional facility. Using the inmates as reservations agents was a first that brought world wide attention and awards to the Best Western group.
1981 Homestead Motor Inns of Australia became affiliated with Best Western. Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn was part of the Homestead Motor Inns of Australia at this time.
1988 Best Western launches the Gold Crown Club International Program.
1993 Best Western decided on a new logo
1995 www.bestwestern.com came online and people were able to view properties from their computer
2001 Best Western International Asian Head Office was opened in Bangkok.
2002 BestRequests was implemented into all Best Western properties. This BestRequests was a standard package of amenities and services.
2006 Best Western celebrates its 60th Anniversary with a promotion that sells rooms for approximately the same price as rooms were sold for when Best Western first started.
2007 Best Western introduced the use of online customer surveys to find out about customer satisfaction.
2008 The Gold Crown Club International Program was renamed Best Western Rewards and celebrated 20 years usage
2009 Best Western was awarded Best Mid-Range Hotel Brand in the Asia-Pacific Region for 2006-2009.

Search for Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn on Facebook and ‘Like’ us to be up to date with all our Hot Deals and Specials. Some specials will only be posted on our Facebook page so keep an eye out for them in the near future.

Feel free to put your comments on our Wall as we are always eager to hear what our customers think of our property and our service.

Show your mum how special she is by booking a night or two at Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn. We have special deals available for the weekend of the 7th, 8th and 9th of May.

We have on offer our renovated Motel Room for 2 people for only $135 per night or our Studio Apartment with kitchen for 2 people for $150 per night, 3 people $170 per night, 4 people $190 per night.

Special inclusions in this package are a light breakfast for each person, yummy box of chocolates for mum and an 11.30am checkout. Our standard inclusions of ‘Welcome Drink’ vouchers and 10% off meals at Bridie O’Reily’s Irish Pub on check in are also included with this package.

Look at our Hot Deals under Mother’s Day Motel Promotion and Mother’s Day Studio Apartment Promotion to make a booking.

http://www.princespark.com.au/booking.asp

Our Reception renovations are finally complete! We moved back into our new Reception a week ago and love it as do our guests. A picture says a thousand words!

We have also been painting the exterior of our buildings and this work is nearly finished now.

We would like to thank our guests for their patience during this time.

From Sunday the 18th of April until Thursday the 29th of April we are promoting our Spa rooms and have put together an incredibly special deal for all bookings made through
http://www.princespark.com.au

Guests will receive 2 complimentary cooked breakfasts, a box of chocolates, Welcome Drink and 15% off meals vouchers at the near by pub and 12pm checkout. The price is $215 per night Sunday to Thursday and $225 per night for Friday and Saturday.

To book go to http://www.princespark.com.au/booking.asp and book the April Spa and Chocolate Deal. This special is only available when booked on our website.

The renovations to Reception are coming along very nicely. We are in the home stretch now with the new Reception area larger giving us more room to operate. We should be moving back into our new Reception area by mid April. In the meanwhile, please remember that our temporary Reception is in the house next door to new Reception area.

We are also painting the exterior of the property as well making it look a lot more modern and bringing it in line with Reception.

Please note that there is minimal disruption to guests during this time of Renovation.

For all bookings go to http://www.princespark.com.au/booking.asp

We have just begun renovations in our Reception area at Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn. For the next 2 month, our Temporary Reception will be across the driveway in the House. Please be aware of this when you are on our property and follow the signs to our Temporary Reception. All of our regular services will still be available during this time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused but believe our guests will love the changes.

There are many things to take into account when choosing the right accommodation to suit your needs.

In our opinion the most important things are comfortable, clean bedding and good customer service. Unfortunately it is difficult to ascertain the cleanliness and comfort of a room unless you are there in person to do so. But it is possible to call up the property and have a chat with them to gauge their helpfulness which would give you an idea of how they would assist you should you need anything while staying with them.

So what are the other things that you can look at when making your decision?

Look at the location of the property in relation to places you have to go to while away from home. How will you get to these places and how long will it take to get there? Will you be driving or will you get around in taxis or use public transport? How much will it cost? Where is the public transport in relation to the property and how far are you willing to walk to get to it? What are the local facilities available? For example if you are a runner, is there a jogging track or park nearby where you can go for a run or a gym nearby?

What type of room would suit you and the people you are travelling with for the duration of your stay? A motel room with a double and single bed may suit you and 2 others if you are staying for just 1 night, but would it be practical if you are staying for 3 or 4 nights or more? Would it be more cost effective to pay and extra $15-20 per night and have a larger room with a kitchen so you can do some of your own meals in the room instead of eating out constantly?

If you do get a cheap room rate, what does it include? Will you need anything extra and how much will it cost you? Sometimes a very cheap room rate can wind up costing a lot more if you have to pay for all your ‘extras’. It is more cost effective to pay a little more for a room which has a few ‘extras’ thrown into it. For example a renovated motel room with a large bathroom for $130 that has 1 drink voucher per person and a discount on meals at a local eatery would save you money and give you a fresh room instead of paying for example $115 in a standard un-renovated room with no extras.

What extras would you like to have available at your motel/hotel?  Will you need things like internet, room service, 24 hour reception, non-smoking rooms, mini bar, car parking, movies, FOXTEL or a pool and how much are you willing to pay for these extras? Many of these extras are included in the nightly room rate but it is always best to check this with the property and make sure that they don’t incur an additional charge ahead of time so you aren’t surprised with a large bill upon checkout.

By keeping the above in mind when searching for accommodation you should be able to find a hotel/motel that suits your needs and requirements for your time away from home.