In what is becoming a series of motel events in Lismore, the Wilson Motel has had some significant changes - the owner of the motel, Bruce Whiteford, has taken control of the management and is making upgrades.

Julie and Gordon Steele, professional motel business consultants, are coordinating those changes. They have been with the motel for a couple of months and are on the tail end of alterations to make the motel safer and installing improvements to the facilities.

“We have implemented a complete change of how the motel is run,” says Julie, who was immediately taken with the spacious size of the rooms - the largest they have seen.

“We’ve taken security measures at the motel up five notches, and cameras monitor all the access and public areas.”

Julie and Gordon have implemented extra touches to make people’s stay a little more special. Things like a variety of pillow types, fresh milk, lock boxes and simplifying processes for guests.

Bruce Whiteford has owned the motel for 12 years, and had leased it out until late last year. He ended the lease and looked for someone like Julie and Gordon to bring the motel up to a high standard.

Mr Whiteford is now much more involved in running the motel. Julies says, “When we took a few weeks off recently, he came in, and I trained him up so he's hands-on.

(Cool, shady verandas)

“He's very keen to establish the business as a solid local business.”

Now the most pressing changes have been done, attention turns to targeting Lismore’s newest attraction, the Rail Trail. Special bicycle storage and maintenance facilities will be made available to guests.

As consultants, Julie and Gordon have moved from place to place a lot and, over the years, have spent time in Birdsville, the Barossa, northern Queensland and many places in between.

“We've owned our own hotel motels over the years, and now, at this stage in life, we are consultants more than anything.”

After fixing up the Wilson, they will move on to another project. Julie says, “I actually like Lismore. It's a nice little town, well it's really a big town to me!”

(Gordon and Julie Steele)

When asked about the complexity of work needed at the Wilson Motel, Julie says, “We've done a lot. Streamlining things, just making it so the motel runs as smooth as possible, for management and the guests.”

Most of the flood work was done prior to Julie and Gordon's arrival, however they have taken all the rooms up to the refurbished standard and just completed recarpeting the remaining suites.

Julie explains that they target people looking for short-term accommodation, “We get a lot of business people and tradespeople and people visiting relatives in the hospital because we're the closest to both the hospitals.”

(Photo: Julie Steele)

A new website was part of the brief for their contract, and that is expected to be live at any time. As part of that, visuals, information and rates through third party bookings were revised. Julie gives up the tip that it is best to book directly on the website.

Keep an eye out for the new website, that may be complete by the time you read this!