Bridge Play

The Bridgeport Hotel is about as conspicuous an endorsement of the future of Murray Bridge as you can possibly get. Effectively, it’s a $45m upgrade of the entire area. In a regional city of some 20,000 people, where it’s traditionally been a struggle to get a decent latté, let alone a world-class full-service hospitality experience, the Bridgeport Hotel looks like it’s landed from outer space.

“Bridgeport Hotel is a real statement,” reckons hotel manager, Ian Muller. “EDP [the developers] is putting a real call out to other investors in the area to say, ‘look, we’ve put our money where our mouth is. You can too. And we can lift the whole area.’ And by doing that Bridgeport becomes an even more valuable asset. Like they say, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’.”

The results speak for themselves. Bridgeport has enjoyed great occupancy and the F&B options are popular. 

“We’ve had some massive clients come through,” enthuses Ian Muller. “Including hotel buyouts for the week. They’ll use Bridgeport as a base to explore everything the region has to offer.”

BUILD IT & YOU WILL TRAIN

‘Build it and they will come’ is a popular aphorism but never one quoted by a manager who needs to staff a significant new hospitality venture in the regions. Getting high quality employees is tough, even in the best of times. Bridgeport partnered with TAFE SA to develop its own training program, and it’s paid off, with the hotel winning awards for its offering. Ian Muller explains: “We knew there were unemployed young people in Murray Bridge and we wanted to be an attractive option for those who wanted to enter the hospitality industry and create a career pathway. So we created a traineeship program with TAFE SA and it’s been overwhelmingly positive.”