CREATING FUN VENUES IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS
The hospitality industry is facing a number of challenges. New laws, changes in social dining and entertainment habits, and challenges in credit markets are creating speed humps on the road to success for many operators.
Now more than ever, sound management skills are called for in order to turn around less profitable businesses. In certain cases, the old way may not be the right way for the future as the industry heads into uncharted waters. Some will swim, other will sink. Steady hands and clear heads are needed to steer underperforming sites into stars.
Our Hotels
Our Management Team
Here is a management team that has the experience, the vigour and a more lateral perspective to inject solid thinking into a dynamic industry.
LEE DILLON
Lee Dillon has established credentials in a range of enterprises, beginning with luxury boating, then extending into property development, corporate consulting and ventures in IT and hospitality.
His achievements have included establishing a dealership which sold and serviced Australia’s leading and most-awarded powerboat range. His dealership subsequently grew to become the country’s leading Riviera dealership, both in terms of customer service, quality and profitability.
Very soon his first operation at a single location expanded into a second location, and then ultimately extended to a network of four dealerships in NSW.
A deep-seated philosophy of adding value rather than simply cutting the price in order to build turnover has regularly paid dividends. In his luxury motoryacht dealership, owners were regularly invited to rendezvous events, which inevitably led to increased loyalty and contributed to repeat business. Rather than simply selling the boat, Lee Dillon Marine sold the dream. Even today, powerboats bearing the LDM badging regularly trade well above equivalent boats on the open market.
Subsequent business ventures have included a number of property development projects. Working in collaboration with a leading commercial property identity, Lee developed an industrial complex on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. There have also been various residential housing projects.
More recently, two land developments in the Central West of NSW have grown to become thriving residential communities. Both subdivisions sold out quickly while less prepared developments presented by competitors languished amid challenging market conditions.
Tried and true principles
With these land and property developments, as with other business ventures, a familiar pattern was seen. In typical Lee Dillon fashion, there has been a strong emphasis on utilising mass media advertising and publicity, over-delivering on all aspects of the product being presented to customers, and generously rewarding the sales force. These have returned big dividends in terms of sales and profits. Now that the Lee Dillon Group has firmly entrenched itself in hotel acquisition and management the same principles are being applied with similar results.
A family affair
This isn’t a case of Lee going alone. Key members of the Dillon family have played various roles in each of the businesses. From providing interior design skills and aesthetic input, to strengthening the workforce during seasonal peaks, the Dillon family at large has played a significant role in the successes along the way. Today, key family members provide a fresh perspective in a myriad of ways, allowing proven management skills to mesh seamlessly with new age thinking:
Product, People, Promotion + Presentation = Profits.
BILL SMITH
A solid grounding in the corporate world laid down the platform for Bill to begin carving his own niche in the competitive hospitality industry. His first venture was a restaurant in Manly, an eclectic hub of restaurants, pubs and entertainment venues on Sydney’s northern beaches. His restaurant was soon rated a ‘top ten’ in the consumer guide ‘Cheap Eats’ and became an icon in the Sydney restaurant scene.
His next move was the purchase of his own freehold hotel in regional NSW. As standards were progressively lifted, weekly turnover doubled in a matter of months. Since the increases were achieved with very little additional capital outlay, profitability also increased by a significant percentage.
Following this success, Bill’s next purchase was The Commercial Hotel in Narrabri which was bought from the receivers. Its already-respectable weekly turnover more than tripled over the course of ten months, with profitability showing a healthy 30% ROI.
Such a track record has led to an ongoing pattern of taking on underperforming hotels and building them up to sustained levels of profitability and quality.
The latest achievement has been The Alpine Hotel in Cooma, a traditional regional hotel which has been transformed from a tired establishment which the previous owner barely visited in his short tenure of ownership, to a hotel that was actively managed back to good health. The quality of its renovationby The Lee Dillon Group prompted its entry into the recent AHA Awards for best renovated country hotel. The objective here has been to make the hotel a true destination, not only for traffic passing through, but within the local community.
The commitment to excellence is an ongoing one. While the initial renovation is complete, the transformation of the Alpine Hotel is an ongoing task with continual equipment upgrades, refreshing the seasonal menus in the restaurant and a keen focus on staff training to upgrade skill levels.
More recently, the Abbotts Hotel in Waterloo has been acquired appealing to a different demographic. While turnover is still growing, it is already well on the way to displaying similar patterns of Bill’s many past achievements. Already the rooms have been significantly improved, equipment including IT systems have been updated, while the kitchen has also undergone a significant transformation. Very shortly, an alfresco gaming area will be added to further enhance the patrons experiences.
A philosophy of quality
Bill’s management style is more about quality than quantity. A key objective in each establishment has been to transform the customer experience in all critical areas.
In short, for Lee Dillon and Bill Smith, it’s all about customer service.
For instance, improving the quality of the food benefits not only the cashflow but also elevates the calibre of patrons. As a result, a better quality of patron will spend more and in turn contribute to the ambience of the hotel, further complementing the customer experience.
Bill never forgets that this is a people business, and it’s less about what comes out of a bottle or tap, but what flows from the mouths of staff members that matters most. Over the years, Bill’s relationship with key staff members has been a major contributor to his success. Staff are incentivised to perform better, which also helps keep them remain loyal and motivated. As a result they display a sense of pride and share a sense of ownership of the business. In the case of the Alpine Hotel, the staff regard it as ‘their’ pub, as the hotel plays a role in defining who they are as individuals.