The Leisure Accommodation Collective is a collection of youth travel and accommodation venues across Australia and New Zealand.

1. To add to the above, can you elaborate a little more on who you are and how Leisure Accommodation Collective started?

The Leisure Accommodation Collective is an experience-based hospitality group formed in 2022 by a group of partners from multiple backgrounds across hotels, hostels, food and beverage, touring, finance, and design. The group acquired an existing portfolio of hostels in Australia, The Village, with plans to revamp and expand the portfolio as well as launch a new hybrid hotel brand, Drifter, across Australia and New Zealand. The Leisure Accommodation Collective or LA Co for short currently has 8 venues operating across Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Cairns and Byron Bay with further sites in development to launch across Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

2. You have two additional brands – The Village and Drifter – can you tell us more about them?

The Village brand, which currently operates seven hostels in four major markets within Australia are currently undergoing multi-million renovations to make them the leading hostels for backpackers and travellers of all ages, with each venue combining vibrant and secure room and bunk options, extensive communal areas, and a rotating calendar of experiences through every venue, both social and community driven.

Drifter, which is opening its doors to guests in mid 2024 in Australia and New Zealand will be the first design-led hybrid hotels in the region, offering a sophisticated mix of rooms, from superior private suites to premium shared bunk rooms, buzzing bars, health and wellness studios and a rotating roster of resident artists from around the world. Drifter has been uniquely designed to be a melting pot of art and culture for free spirited travellers of every age, race, and interest, setting a new bar in experience-based travel and accommodation.

3. Ensuring the well-being of young individuals is typically a priority during travel. How do you gather feedback from guests regarding safety issues?

Since establishing LA Co in 2022 every part of the business has been reviewed and carefully considered to launch and revamp a network of venues with the highest levels of guest safety, privacy, and overall satisfaction, taking regular guest feedback through reviews, guest surveys, and independent quality assessment. The optimisation program stretches across everything from fire and evacuation plans, highly-trained staff, secure ICT infrastructure and design-led interiors focussed both on communal atmosphere and individual privacy.

4. At present, sustainable travel is a growing trend. What approach do you employ to engage with your guests or travellers on these matters?

Sustainable impact is at the forefront of development plans across the LA Co network. As a company we’ve looked to acquire and breath new life into existing buildings and as part of that journey every part of the business’ footprint is being optimised, from energy efficient water and lighting systems, the removal of single use plastics and non-recyclable products and future investment across solar and food share programs.

5. What sets Leisure Accommodation Collective apart from your competitors?

Contempt for the ordinary. The establishment of the Leisure Accommodation Collective was based on an insight that there was a burgeoning group of experienced based travellers who wanted more than what was on offer from existing operators and now desired the vibrancy and connection of a shared accommodation precinct combined with the consideration and curation seen only in a few boutique venues.