Hello,

Posting this topic in response to the mining boom and the increasing problems associated with obtaining satisfactory accomodation for mining staff and consultants working and starying in remote areas.

I'd like to hear opinions and feedback on the following questions to start investigating how myself and my colleagues might be able to begin to initiate some changes.

Thanks.

Ben

Please give your name (optional), sex, age, company and job description?

Describe how you feel generally about working remotely.

Who decides where you will stay when you are working in the bush?

Please describe your existing hotel/s and/or accomodation and what is Good and Bad about it.

In a perfect world, what should your hotel/accomodation be like?

What is THE MOST important thing about your working accommodation?

What would convince you and/or your company to try new accomodation?

If you saw advertising for a new hotel, what words/images would attract you to that hotel?

What words/images would put you off that hotel?

Re: your questionnaire - answers from your target (mining industry professionals) should give you a fair picture of existing use vs what is wanted. Only thing to clarify before those last two questions is where hotel accommodation sits relative to other alternatives. I suggest that the "in a perfect world..." question be modified to ask about preferences from a list of the practical possible forms of accommodation (perhaps even extended to preferred inclusions where appropriate). It wouldn't hurt to spell accommodation with two ems to raise the perception of professionalism.
I'm not a mining industry professional, so I'm not answering the questions. I'm happy to tell you that I'm Pequod, a male, 60 yrs, I work for the Commonwealth Government and I work on evaluation and strategic analysis, and I have spent time in very remote areas.
And my first thought when I saw your entry was "And how about decent accommodation for the people who live permanently out there?"

What is this about - are you trying to get an upgrade from dongas?

Most dongas I have used travelling as a consultant generally have too small a desk. Need a comfy chair, a table and network connection, and thats about it. Additional facilities are whatever everyone else has.

The very best accomodation I have had were BMA Coal senior staff transient houses in their towns, where they kept the fridge stocked with lots of good food, and data points for the corporate network. Passable lounge with TV - hardly needed but nice to have. Private bedroom with desk and chair - yes. Ability to cook my own steak and veg at any time - priceless. MILES better than hotel and restaurant accomodation.

Ah, from your questions it looks like you want to tailor a better hotel offering.

Well, I have travelled a lot for consulting as a geologist and project manager, and stayed in all levels of hotels.

Advertising hardly affects me; I generally book by arrangement with the client and on word of mouth recommendation by client staff so direct promotion to local company PAs is the most likely advertising success.

A 'share house' is the best experience I have had, where I know the other guests are staff or consultants like myself. It is also less costly to the client.

I don't want to spend the evening waiting at a restaurant table (unless going for a meal with the team). I would rather cook my own, or just load up at a buffet.

I think the thread is information gathering to help sell a product.
Wrong place wrong audience.
As a construction union official let me say this is not about hotel rooms.
Some WA and SA sites are fully transported to the job, a hotel? not in site.
My job sees some who did it and most who once did sleep in strange places.
Even in a bed role on the ground, no public service big living away from home allowance.
Still knowing that one project soon to be underway is huge 5.000 fly in fly out jobs at least I can understand how hard it is to get salaried staff to stay.
Give them the dongas its good enough for my mates, tell you what pay them the same usually higher rates and they will jump at the donga.

Thanks very much to everyone who has replied so far, some interesting angles there, and some common themes also.

Pequod - Apologies for the typo, I know the govt is immune from errors, lareg and small, but the rest of us are human. On a more serious note, yes, we could get more specific but I am after general, simple opinions about what makes day to day life more bearable. While I'm sure permanent residents struggle also, that is not my concern, to be blunt.

ChrisPer - It's really about finding out what remote mining workers really want day to day, the basic stuff, like, as you say, the facilities to cook your own steak. I think alot of suppliers are either driven by cost and provide too little, or focus on services that are popular with the holiday market, but irrelevant to people working long hours.

Belly - It's really about finding out what the professionals who use these places really want so that better options can be developed quickly. The responses so far have been useful and that confirms this is the right place and right audience. I appreciate your point of view and the experience you've had Belly, but its not the only one out there.

Thanks again to everyone, please keep them coming.

Cheers

Benndy

If I could get a $ for every newcomer I have met in remote communities I could afford to stop working now. It's not only about "conditions". it's also about performance. In my experience far too much resource & effort is wasted on people who go to remote area jobs "for the money". More often than not such jobs are either in or very close to communities which cop the brunt of those who don't give a single thought about the impact they have in those communities. All they are concerned about is yes, "the money". The worst are the Government public servants because of not being needed in the first place they demand & get very good conditions in return for what ? Mining or construction personnel in general are of a far more considerate mentality because they actually seek the remote experience & the very good conditions being an additional benefit