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The Australian tourism industry is being hit hard due to staff housing shortages. Why is this happening when there are over 13.5m spare bedrooms in 10m homes across Australia? The Room Xchange has a solution. Read on the find out how.
Article by CEO and Founder of The Room Xchange, Ludwina Dautovic.
I can't tell you the number of conversations I've been having lately with both government and the tourism industry about the struggles finding affordable accommodation for hospitality staff. It's happening in all coastal and country tourism towns across Australia.
It's a problem for the government
I recently talked to a senior advisor to the Treasurer, Tim Pallas and we'll be continuing this conversation in the coming weeks. I've also booked a meeting with Geelong MP for Labour, Christine Couzens. It's an issue that is spreading wide across our country and The Room Xchange has an instant solution that can help right now!
It's a problem for the hospitality and tourism regions
With the cost of housing continually on the rise, what once were available rental properties are now being occupied by people who would normally have bought a home. Short-term holiday platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz have removed a number of properties from the long-term rental market, contributing to the massive gap for people needing a place to call home. Now that Australians are opening up their travel plans, it's proving a massive issue for the restaurant, hospitality and other service industries to get and retain staff when there's no where for them to live.
Adopt a Worker
In this article by ABC writer Kristen Sexton-McGrath titled: Port Douglas tourism body launches Adopt a Worker campaign as housing shortage deters staff' it talks about the issues that Port Douglas is experiencing right now. It has become so bad that Tara Bennett, the CEO of Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree, is putting a call out to empty nesters to open their spare rooms and adopt a worker. That's all well and good, but as a company of five years in the house-sharing space, it will take a lot more than kind, open hearts to get these rooms opened up.
The Room Xchange has infrastructure in place and can help right now!
If you're in the tourism industry and you've come across this article, please get in touch. The Room Xchange has three key value propositions that can instantly help your tourism industry and provide comfort to more people who would like to open their homes but require some additional security and safety before doing so.
About The Room Xchange
- The Room Xchange is Australia's first verified house-sharing platform. All users must have a Digital iD by Australia Post, ensuring that everyone is who they say they are and gives everyone peace of mind knowing their ID has been checked and matches the information on their profile.
- Our profiles make it easy to be matched based on personality, values and lifestyle, so you feel like you're coming home to a friend.
- We offer a more traditional rental model but we also have a rent offset option where the homeowner can request some help around the house and as long as the housemate is willing to do so, they can offset some or all of their rent.
It's a win-win for all. - We also have a number of resources in our blog along with a podcast show that helps people to rent better.
How we can help
Please get in touch with our CEO and Founder, Ludwina Dautovic on Linkedin or email her ludwina@theroomxchange.com
➜ Press release published on Yahoo Finance.
➜ Company update published on Digital Journal.
➜ Link to an article on Startup Daily.
