Wayne Rabjohns, who on this particular Friday sat in the centre of the table sipping a cappuccino, likens the gathering to a “tradies toolbox” meeting of sorts.

It’s a chance to catch up and coordinate before another day at Best Western Centretown really kicks into gear.

He says there are two things that are key in keeping up with the ever changing demands of the hospitality industry – family and the ability to listen to customer feedback.

It’s the latter that’s seen the Lagoon St motel transform in the past four months, and all started with a survey.

“Best Western as a marketing organisation does lots of survey work. A lot of the guests are surveyed on their departures and asked about a list of items including rooms, beds, internet, experience etc,” Mr Rabjohns explained.

“The one noticeably reoccurring feature of the surveys was that people said the inside of the rooms were so much better than the outside appearance.

“We took notice of that and have taken action.”

One whole side of the motel streetscape has been madeover.

Existing brick, which Mr Rabjohns says gave the place “an 80’s feel”, was cement rendered and painted as a start.

Paving was redone, old gardens were pulled out, the fishpond removed and a new section of garden boxes and seating added. That’s not all.

“We now have a beautiful much improved streetscape and are delighted with the response to what we’ve done.

There’s a huge amount of difference.

Wherever we go people always want to know what’s going on,” Mr Rabjohns continued.

“We have larger developments in the pipeline for new rooms and a new entrance, and it isn’t unrealistic to think we could make a start in the first half of this year.”

In a sink or swim industry, adapting to the growing needs of guests is a major focus for survival, he said.

“Guest expectations are ever increasing. Our guests expect to stay somewhere that is a nice as their homes or even better, so we try to give them an experience,” he said.

“If you don’t listen to the advice of the customers I think you will perish in the industry.

We’re in the process of trying to turn it around and have really embraced the surveys and social media feedback.”