Oakwood grows awareness

As the second Australian location for Oakwood Serviced Apartments & Hotels, Oakwood Premier Melbourne’s most important challenge is increasing its occupancy and growing the hotel’s footprint, General Manager Mathias Waas ( pictured) has told Travel Daily.

Opening around nine months ago during the height of the pandemic, Oakwood Melbourne is located at the crossroads of Southbank, South Wharf and South Melbourne.

Set within a 40-storey tower, Oakwood Melbourne boasts 132 hotel rooms and 260 serviced apartments.

The location is Oakwood’s first Premier-badged property in the country, following on from the four-star Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Brisbane.

This means the property has a large amount of heavy lifting to do for Oakwood in the Australian market, especially as it is not currently welcoming its typical volume of international travellers who may be more aware of the brand than Aussies.

“Because we’re not very well known, in regards to loyalty programs, we don’t have many guests coming through,” Waas explained.

“Most of our guests will be FIT bookings online, which makes up around about 70% of our hotel guests, which is good on one point because you extend the footprint & become more known.

“But a lot of bookings of course come through all the OTA channels, so this means commission is quite high.”

Waas said one way the occupancy challenge is being handled is through corporate and MICE bookings, for who the hotel is a perfect choice, given its location - five minutes walk from the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC), and five minutes from downtown.

This challenge represents a great opportunity for the travel trade, he believes.

“We have tried to create connection working closely with [MCEC}, together with the Melbourne Convention Bureau, which travel agencies were piecing together, providing the assurance of quality and product, and that they know what we’re offering,” Waas said.