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The view from my latest Moodie Davitt Report Interim Bureau may not be the greatest but at least I’m practically on the doorstep of one of the world’s great airports.
I’m staying at the Mantra Hotel and I’ve got what’s dubbed as the “urban view” rather than the much more alluring one of Sydney Airport, which the front side of the hotel offers (see below). It’s a very decent airport hotel though, a recent addition to Sydney Airport’s property portfolio.
I’m here to meet the Sydney Airport retail team, led by General Manager, Retail Glyn Williams, to prepare a major feature on the transformation of the commercial offer for our Cannes edition in October. I also had the welcome opportunity to catch up with CEO and Managing Director Kerrie Mather, who kindly took time out on a hectic half-year results announcement day to talk to me. What results they were too, with retail the belle of the ball following a +14.3% year-on-year revenues rise on passenger growth (total) of just +3.6%.
Yesterday I walked the domestic terminals (2 and 3) and in a few minutes it’s off to meet the Heinemann Duty Free team, followed by a tour of the International Terminal, now widely ranked as one of the best retail centres in Australia, including anything the local market has to offer (p.s. I’ve just returned from there, it is sensational, with what I reckon is the airport world’s most spectacular luxury offer).
I was very impressed yesterday by just how passionate the retail team is about the airport’s consumer offer. This is no passive landlord I can assure you, but a group of diverse, dynamic individuals who use terms such as “curate” rather than “lease” to describe how they go about both identifying and working with retail and restaurant partners.
There is some supremely good F&B in the domestic terminals and plenty of surprises on the retail front too. The images below capture some of the diversity on offer but just wait till you see my full report and (in my next Blog) some images of an at times superb International Terminal offer. This is an airport that takes its gateway status seriously and puts the travelling consumer at the forefront of all its thinking. If you’re a luxury brand executive and you haven’t seen this airport, I suggest you buy a ticket to Sydney fast.
