For almost a quarter of a century, Golden Chain Motor Inns has maintained its undisputed claim of being the largest network of motels in Australia, having now spread its representation to a total of 335 locations.

Golden Chain general manager, Stephen Drew said, “This is the 20th successive year that Golden Chain has recorded positive growth in motel numbers and to our knowledge no other brand or franchise in Australia, indeed anywhere in the world, can make that claim.

Golden Chain’s ongoing and long term success is a product of our long history of consistency. The group was founded and still abides by its philosophy of consistent standards, simple, back-to-basics systems and procedures and a personal approach to service and hospitality that can only come from the mum and dad owner/operator structure that typifies our individual members and from the family culture that is at the heart of everything that they do.”



Over the years Golden Chain has also built up its market leadership through teamwork. Mr Drew said properties are invited to join Golden Chain because they have achieved a standard and success individually and are encouraged to keep doing what has led to their success.

"We bring the strength and reputation of the Golden Chain brand that can add to the success of each property if they play their part in promoting the chain. The branding of Golden Chain has been much more successful than we could ever have perceived in the early days of establishing a niche for ourselves in this very competitive market sector. We have nevertheless created an unprecedented and unbroken history of positive growth every year since we wrote our first business plan. And there are member motels across the country that have stories to tell of the success of their adoption of the brand.

“One new member reported an increase of 50% in bookings after joining the network; while others have indicated that their business is now firmly based on Golden Chain bookings. In the words of one of them, ‘Putting up the Golden Chain sign put my profits up by 40%’”

That was the reason Golden Chain was established; to provide an alternative to the existing group concepts, which at that stage were characterised by top-heavy and complex administrations, lots of compulsions for members and unnecessarily complicated internal programs and procedures. Unlike other groups, Golden Chain is totally owned and controlled by its individual and independent (but co-operative) owners, the members themselves.

"Our property members run the group that has a streamlined head office of just seven people, including three field personnel,” Mr Drew said.

From its very inception, Golden Chain was founded on principles of value-for-money, quality service and presentation and attention to guest needs.

Mr Drew said, “The first principle we adopted was simplicity because the more complex the requirements of a brand the more likely there will be inadvertent departures from standards and philosophy. We developed a very close working relationship with our member owner/operators right from the start and the daily application of this policy has been instrumental in us achieving our goal of being the best motel chain in Australia. The very personal and open door communications to our members from our head office has contributed greatly to the level of our success.”



The simplicity also extends to the structure of the organisation: member-driven with low overheads and back-to-basics cost-effective administration. To simplify it even further, Golden Chain selects motels and invites them to join it, choosing those that meet its standards of excellence, rather than dictating to moteliers how they should run their business.

This organisation structure has positioned Golden Chain to draw on the expertise of its staff to help members develop their business rather than trying to dictate to them how it should be done. Where operators are new to the industry, Golden Chain provides an environment of co-operation and assistance, so that they can be quickly assimilated into the network and encouraged to draw on the expertise of their fellow members.

“We recognise that they have established their own identity, their own systems and their own standards, that’s the basis of their success. They have a commitment to their business and they have raised it to a high level to meet market demands, they don’t need to be told what to do. We simply provide a network of support and referrals of bookings to help them improve their bottom line performance as well as utilising the reputation of the Golden Chain branding as an assurance to guests.

“We can offer assistance, help and training to help them increase their success but we don’t interfere in the operation of the business.”

The selection of motels and training activities revolves around field staff, who regularly call in on motel members to provide support as well as checking the standards of the motel.

“The brand identification provided to all our properties works on a co-operative basis allowing every member to promote other members. So we really provide an umbrella for all of our 335+ motels, resorts, serviced apartments and holiday cabins. A motel chain can only be as strong as its weakest link. Our staff has extensive knowledge of our members and is quick to determine when a motelier may need assistance so that we can provide the support needed in a timely manner.



“Strength also lies in our regional structure, with members conducting regional meetings to assist each other on a regular basis and regional coordinators providing support to other moteliers as required. There is also enormous support provided through our national conference where members can share their experiences, learn from each other and strengthen the network through the development of personal relationships.”

Every year, Golden Chain hosts a national conference. This conference is their opportunity to help each other as well as setting the course for the future of the network and the brand.

The provision of Golden Chain branded accessories for rooms, from combs and shoe polish pads to soaps, hair shampoos and conditioners and moisturisers also increases brand awareness and loyalty from guests as well as providing an assurance of quality.

Mr Drew said, “Moteliers joining Golden Chain find that their search for quality suppliers has been dramatically simplified with a Recommended Suppliers list that has been developed from 20 years of experience of other moteliers offering further options for purchasing necessary items.”

In conjunction with the flourishing co-operative relationships and ever mindful of the need to constantly generate business for their 7500 plus rooms, Golden Chain will this year actively venture outside the domestic market for the first time.

Mr Drew announced, “Golden Chain will be launching in the second half of 2009 the Golden Chain Australia Motel Pass. Initially these passes will be introduced to the American and European markets. The distribution will be handled for Golden Chain Australia by Mitchell Corp that has, for many years now, been very successful in these market sectors for Golden Chain in New Zealand.

“Intending FIT, travellers to Australia will be able to pre-purchase these vouchers and they will be accepted in over 135 different locations, according to a pre-determined colour coding, which will identify participating properties in the Golden Chain Australia international Motel Guide.



“Not surprisingly, because of Golden Chain’s widespread distribution and our very effective and productive website, we are already enjoying a reasonable percentage of the inbound business and continue to receive emails and other advance requests to provide the accommodation directory and Gold Link travel club cards to many overseas locations.

“Notwithstanding the current economic climate that continues to suffer from the doom and gloom predictors, most Golden Chain accommodation owner-operators admit to being relatively happy with the business that they are currently enjoying.

“Given the group’s widespread distribution, this varies of course but overall we have identified some very positive trends. We do not seek to compete at the bottom end of the market, rather positioning ourselves to meet the needs of travellers in the medium to high quality category, a market that has been the basis of the success of Golden Chain. We have deliberately set out to be the best in this niche market and if results are anything to go by, we have succeeded.”