Macleay Lodge

A foundation property from the Sydney lodges group of budget accommodation peppered across Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Macleay Lodge is nestled in the historically colourful and vibrant hood of Potts Point, the upmarket sister to the shiny sweaty neon night life of Kings Cross. In an incredibly central location for overseas visitors, Potts point is well known for its trendy award winning restaurants, boutique hotels, bed n breakfast and air bnb’s.

Macleay Lodge was looking tired, dull and needed a refurbishment to make it more visible and to rise to the top of the budget accommodation selection.

Although internet bookings were consistent, walk in traffic had dwindled to a trickle and reviews on trip advisor were failing. With a super tight budget and only a 6 week close down window, we undertook the complete refurbishment of the entryway, foyer, reception, corridors, bathrooms and guest bedrooms over all three floors.

We created and installed custom joinery, vibrant artwork, updated bathrooms, replaced lighting, furniture and bed linens. Of course the most cost effective and impactful change you can make to a property, is to inject rich colour. Taking cues from the 100 + year old stained glass window above the entry way- our colour palette was born. We intentionally selected each of our feature walls and which of our jewel box palette colours to place on each wall. We considered impact both visual and emotional to enhance our guest experience. We wanted the property to stand out in the streetscape, I wanted it to be impressive, stylish and inviting. Not intimidating. We want to draw people in off the street. Using the foundation elements of Feng Shui, we used colour to implement some of the remedies to change the personality and mood of the building – to enhance and attract prosperity to the building and Staff.

Since the refurbishment, the trip advisor reviews, up take in customer engagement and re-bookings have been outstanding. Macleay Lodge is operating at 85% occupancy 90% of the time. The owner was able to increase pricing by 21% without customer lashback. The reviews on Trip advisor are increasing interest daily- guest s are beyond happy, more than satisfied and feeling like they are staying in a far more expensive style of accommodation than they are paying for. So that’s a win win – that client is earning more money and guests are returning and recommending Macleay Lodge to their friends.