Committee For Lorne: Summer Season in Lorne begins but it’s not without some problems

We are now starting to see the usual signs that herald the start of the Summer Season in Lorne.

Daylight saving has started, the weather is warming up, we are receiving more frequent visits from the Shire’s parking inspectors.

Melbourne Cup weekend has traditionally been the time when people start preparing for the summer holidays with cars and trailers bearing all sorts of equipment, beds, refrigerators, etc arriving to set up accommodation for the summer period.

For most it’s an exciting time and the summer season is Lorne at its best. However, it’s also time that is not without its problems for some in our community. If you look on social media, for example, Lorne Community Notice Board 2.0 on Facebook, you will see an increasing number of postings from visitors to Lorne who have secured work for the summer but have no accommodation. For example; “Hey guys we are a couple coming in Lorne for work next week and looking now for a room/accommodation from the 11 of November. If you have something or hear about a place that’s could be lovely to let us know. See you in a week in Lorne!”.

Or this one. “hey team! just looking for somewhere to live in summer, anyone have a spare room I can snatch up? I know they’re hot property at the moment.”

These examples of enquiries for accommodation are typical of dozens of posts requesting accommodation which start to appear around September/October. Over the summer season, the demand for additional seasonal workers in hospitality, cleaning and other services rises dramatically. The additional workers required over the summer period is in excess of 200! In past years, those workers who could not find accommodation have had to camp out, sleep in cars, couch surf with friends; anything to find a place to sleep for the night.

It is a serious issue which affects most of the businesses in Lorne trying to attract the additional staff required to meet summer demand and trying to help with accommodation. In the quieter months of winter, over 75 per cent of the houses in Lorne are unoccupied, but in summer the town is full. There are now over 300 properties in the Lorne region listed on Airbnb and this must have an effect upon available accommodation.

The dramatic shortage of seasonal worker accommodation will have an impact on all Lorne businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector. It’s a knock-on effect – hard to attract staff if they can’t find accommodation, therefore hard to offer extended hours of trading to meet summer demand if no staff available. For most businesses, it’s the summer season, Christmas to Australia Day, that generates a very large percentage of the year’s revenue. For many they hope to collect 40 per cent of their annual revenue in that five-week period. Being constrained by staff shortages caused by lack of accommodation is just another cause of stress that businesses could do without.

So, here’s a call-out to homeowners in Lorne. If you see these posts from our seasonal workers looking for accommodation and you have some space, a spare room for example, would you consider helping out? If you would like to offer accommodation for our seasonal workers, you can contact us at [email protected] or drop in and see me at Lorne Central.

I know your support would be much appreciated.

Bryce Newcombe
President Lorne Business & Tourism Association