Southern Downs motels ’cancelling up to 96%’ of their bookings amid lockdown

Apple & Grape Motel in Stanthorpe confirmed they've had a rise in cancellations.

By Dominique Tassell

The Southern Downs may have escaped a lockdown, but that doesn’t mean we’re unaffected.

Motels in the Southern Downs are being hit hard by the Covid-19 lockdown, with empty rooms in sight for the foreseeable future.

The Coachman’s Inn in Warwick told this paper they’d “just finishing cancelling up to 96% of our bookings“.

They said they had two people left staying with them, both from Toowoomba.

Reportedly people are still making bookings for after the lockdown, though that is pending Covid-19 developments.

Coachman’s Inn is still receiving bookings for September and October, but noticing a small decline.

They would normally have about five or six bookings in a day for those, but only had three the day we called.

A staff member said the hotel “won’t be employing anyone this weekend and will be closing the restaurant this weekend“.

They later decided to up their restaurant as usual.

A staff member said they noticed a decline in locals coming in to the restaurant earlier in the week, and said it was most likely because they were worried about their pay being affected by the lockdown.

“No housekeepers, no restaurant staff, no reception this weekend,“ they emphasised.

The Apple and Grape Motel in Stanthorpe confirmed they’d also had a fair few cancellation calls.

“People have to cancel because a lot of our customers come out of Brisbane,“ said a staff member.

Staff would not comment on where their current visitors are from.

A Stanthorpe local told this newspaper that they have mistakenly received calls from Brisbane locals requesting a room at a Stanthorpe motel, while another said they had seen someone drive into a property who they knew was originally from Brisbane.

The Palaszczuk Government will be providing $5,000 payments to small and medium businesses across Queensland affected by the current COVID-19 lockdown and lockdowns in other states.

2021 COVID-19 Business Support Grants of $5,000 will be available to eligible small and medium businesses across all industries across the state.

Treasurer and Minister for Investment Cameron Dick said “this $5,000 payment is higher than most other states, recognising the short interval between lockdowns in South East Queensland, and the unique circumstances faced by regional economies who are impacted by multiple border closures“.

“I’m also calling on all councils in the 11 affected local government areas, and across other impacted parts of Queenslanders, to implement their own assistance measures for affected businesses.

”This could include Councils contributing to supporting business cash flows and viability through the waiving of rates, fees and charges paid by small businesses, or by providing a co-contribution towards the Queensland Government’s business support grant program.”

Minister for Minister for Employment and Small Business Di Farmer said that she knew how challenging the global pandemic had been for small business.

“We are living through some incredibly challenging times, and I want to acknowledge and thank small businesses for all they have done,” Minister Farmer said.

The small business payments will be made through QRIDA, which successfully administered the payment of $1 billion in 12-month interest loans to COVID-affected businesses.

Applications for grants will open from mid-August.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) Policy and Advocacy General Manager Amanda Rohan said it was too little too late, and businesses shouldn’t have to wait up to two weeks for the money.

She said CCIQ had been calling for the financial impact of lockdowns on businesses to be compensated since the March greater Brisbane lockdown.

“(The) announcement is good news for businesses impacted during lockdowns and especially those locked out in regional areas who we know some of which are doing it just as tough as those forced to close,” Ms Rohan said.

“Not withstanding this, it’s been five months since Queensland businesses were first forced to close in snap lockdowns without financial support and three lockdowns later, they’re today told they could have to wait up to two weeks to have access to cash.

“We know even short snap lockdowns can have significant financial impacts on business’ ability to recover or even reopen at all after a lockdown so it’s not good enough for business to have to wait this long to have access to payments.

“The uncertainty this kind of delay creates and the impact that has on business and consumer confidence is damaging to the long-term recovery prospects of not only those businesses forced to close, but others outside the hotspots which experience flow-on impacts and the wider Queensland economy.

“We know the impacts of lockdowns can reach far beyond the hotspot local government areas, with 82% of businesses we surveyed during this lockdown saying they expected a lack of trade and booking cancellations to impact them with more than 60% expecting longer term implications of falling confidence to hurt their bottom line.”

Ms Rohan said businesses reported three days of lockdown could cost them up to $65,000 – significantly more than the $5,000 on the table for current eight day lockdown.

“Businesses need to maintain their commitment to staff who rely on them for an income, pay ongoing bills and overheads which don’t go away when they’re not able to trade and plan for long-term recovery, costs which can add up quickly,” she said.

“Even small businesses expected three days of lockdown could cost them up to $12,000 which tells us the $5,000 payments on offer don’t go far to compensate for the immediate impacts of a lockdown let alone give businesses certainty and confidence to recover long-term.

“We’re also concerned these payments exclude some businesses, like non-employing sole traders and those with less than $75,000 turnover. All kinds of businesses are hurting and even the smaller operators who work just as hard to secure their livelihood and their contribution to the Queensland economy need to be compensated to ensure they’re still there when the lockdown lifts.”

Ms Rohan said businesses needed to be afforded certainty on how to access payments to ensure they were able to maximise their impact.

“Now is the time for detail – how, where and when these payments will be made available is essential if businesses are able to come out the other side of the fourth lockdown this year,” she said.

“Without this certainty, the impact this lockdown could have on our business community could be catastrophic.”