Dynamic Dubbo duo checks out
After nearly 37 years in an everchanging industry, it’s time for Terry and Sue Clark to check out of the accommodation business, but after a near-four-decades-long “love affair” with Dubbo and the western region, the couple has no plans to check out as locals. JEN COWLEY spoke with them about the changes they’ve seen in the industry, and how their trailblazing impact has helped mould the regional tourism landscape.
THEY are among Dubbo’s bestknown business people, having pioneered the city’s accommodation services as we now know them and helping lead the charge into the brave new world of tourism in the digital age.
But after nearly 40 years Terry and Sue Clark have hung up their figurative concierge keys and are preparing to head off into a wellearned retirement.
It’s not yet two months since the renowned locals, who are also actively involved in voluntary service to the community, handed over the keys to Country Apartments, but there’s no hint of separation anxiety.
Their 37 years in a mercurial and ever-evolving industry has left them with only fond memories and a lifelong love for Dubbo and the region, which they will continue to call home.
The couple came to the great Western Plains from the Sunshine Coast in 1985, in pursuit of a complete career change after a number of years in the pastoral industry.
“We came here to manage a motel,” Terry recalls. “The workload hit us like a tonne of bricks, with a 50-seat restaurant and 22 units to manage, it was pretty full on.”
Despite that shock, the couple soon realised they had a flair for hospitality and customer service, and so began their love affair with not only this region, but the accommodation industry.
“We worked our hearts out, then a light bulb went off and we decided to buy the flats behind the motel and develop them into self-contained units as an extra to the existing motel – which we did with the owner’s blessing,” says Terry, describing the genesis of what Dubbo now knows as Country Apartments.
At the time, there was precious little to compare on the local accommodation landscape. There was a smattering of similar but smaller options, but nothing with two bedrooms and separate living and kitchen areas. The business was unique, and hung out its shingle with the slogan, “More than a motel room”.
Terry agrees that their vision helped open a door for others to follow.
“Now you’ll find that most motels have a house next door or have embraced that type of option, but we were the first.”
Over the years, the Clarks have been trailblazers, but equally eager to follow the trails blazed by others, embracing each change and leaning into the various twists and turns of a fast-moving industry.
One of the most significant shifts was the advent of Airbnb, which added another layer to the accommodation space when it began to take flight some ten years ago.
“Instead of fighting against the change in the industry, Terry and Sue embraced the newcomer, and joined up to the platform with gusto.
“We had the perfect product so we fitted into that market really well,” says Terry, adding proudly that the business has been named an Airbnb “super-host” for four periods in a row.
In the early 2000s, along came user-generated tourism advice and review platform Tripadvisor, a digital-age development that had many industry providers ducking for cover with fear and trepidation.
Not Terry and Sue, who believe Tripadvisor was a brilliant way to clean up the industry, and drag other operators to the standard they’d always held for themselves.
“Suddenly, we were being judged on that day by our guests, where in the past, we were judged by NRMA on a particular day with advanced warning, and everyone would put their best foot forward on that day,” says Sue.
“We had to pay enormous money to get that star rating and you were only ever looked at every 18 months. It was never a true reflection. Tripadvisor gave every visitor the right to review you on that day.”
It helped raise and revolutionise standards throughout the industry by weeding out the sub-standard operators, Terry believes.
“Over time, those who didn’t embrace the idea of instant reviews – who didn’t focus on customer service, style and improvements – were “crucified”. And rightly so. We embraced it. We always did our best to be the best.”
After so many years in the industry, it’s easy to imagine that having such experience and a critical eye for detail has ruined travel for the Clarks.
Both say and emphatic “no”, and in fact it seems their consciousness and hyper-vigilance has made them not only super hosts, but super guests.
“We do judge but we don’t criticise publicly. If we feel they’re letting themselves down we’ll just quietly add a private note to them. Most of the time our review (as guests) comes back saying, “We’ve never had the unit left so clean” – we would never leave a place as some of our guests do.”
As they check out of the industry as professionals of 37 years’ experience, Terry and Sue both believe they have been effective ambassadors for this city and region when it comes to tourism.
“I don’t think people realise how important the hosts of accommodation providers are to the city. I’ve always said every motel should be doing well because if people have a bad experience, that reflects on everyone and they rate the whole town.
“We were always conscious of selling an experience, not a room,” says the couple, who became the masters of first impressions.
“We knew that we had to provide something different so we focussed on the garden, so our guests came in and said, “Wow!” before they’d even seen their rooms. By the time walked into their room, they were already wowed.”
The decision to retire after 37 years in the industry didn’t come easily, although Sue admits she was ready to step back well before Terry and the couple together made the decision to move offsite in the first instance, a “tapering” that made it less of a wrench to finally sell the business.
Terry is adamant that while he’s been arguably the more public-facing of the two, Sue has been in every way an equal partner in the success the pair has forged in the industry.
“We’ve been a team together, working side by side for all those years. Not many people could have done that. We’ve been married 52 years, only five of those we’ve not worked together.”
On reflection, the most significant changes Terry and Sue have seen in the industry over the course of nearly four decades are those brought by technology and the digital age, but those changes have also presented the challenges that have kept it real and exciting.
“Embracing change has been a great motivator,” says Terry. “The only thing that makes me sad about technology is that we’ve lost that human contact. We don’t talk to people any more – it’s only the regulars that will actually pick up the phone and ring us now.”
Not that Terry and Sue don’t have a healthy contingent of regulars, some who have been with the couple for almost the entirety of their tenure, with Terry reflecting on how hard it was to say goodbye to one guest:
“He’s been staying with us every week for 34 years.”
So what does retirement look like for such a dynamic duo?
With their children and grandchildren at opposite ends of the planet, Terry and Sue will be dividing their time between here at home in Dubbo and the UK spending precious time with family.
And while they’re officially retired from the industry, the couple will always take a keen interest in the future of tourism for Dubbo and across the region.
“Dubbo has enormous tourism potential. We’ve always had that potential. The zoo has always been the greatest catalyst we’ve had and for many, many years I don’t think we embraced that enough. Now, it’s amazing how this city is promoted,” says Terry who, as a long-term co-ordinator of the Royal Flying Doctors Service Dubbo Support Group, was instrumental in helping establish the new visitor experience at the base here in Dubbo.
“I fell in love with Dubbo many, many years ago – the amenities, the gardens... everything we have makes it a wonderful place.
“I’d love to see Dubbo grow stronger and stronger, pushing the tourism barrow and the regional experience. Moving with the times and embracing change is the future.”