Melbourne’s Novotel Glen Waverley is the latest hotel in Australia to install a new magnetised, self-locking portable dance floor.
Released into the market six months ago by Innova Group, Mity-Lite Magnattach dance floor has been installed in a range of properties across Australia, including Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, Novotel Glen Waverley, Novotel Twin Waters Resort and Jupiters Gold Coast, along with other properties in the Rydges Hotels and Resorts, Accor Hotels and Resorts, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts chains.
As well as a quick Return on Investment (RoI) in terms of assembly and disassembly savings alone (it can be done in under seven minutes), Innova’s National Sales Manager, Jamie Glaister told HM the Magnattach was also winning attention because of its durability and safety.
“Panels just snap together,” he said. “In dance parlance, why bump and grind when you can click and slide?
“It’s incredibly easy to use. Instead of relying on traditional cams, screws or tabs to join panels, Magnattach uses ultra-high strength magnets, interlocking steel wedge bars and aluminium edge ramps that lock panels, without tools, in a precision fit, and that means no moving parts to wear, break or repair,” he said.
Trim panels are also fixed in the same manner so there is a virtual ‘vice lock’ around the entire floor, thereby preventing both lateral slide and separation as no portable floor has ever done before, Glaister said.
Novotel Melbourne Glen Waverley’s General Manager, Andrew Maynard, (pictured above) said the hotel was giving its floor “plenty of work”.
“It’s really a no-hassle product because it is simple to erect and dismantle and to store,” he said.
“Its simplicity makes it very OH&S friendly and elevates our back-of-house efficiencies.”
The locked floor, commercial laminates (multitude of colours) that never require refinishing and non-slip low profile secure trim made of aircraft grade aluminium satisfy durability and safety concerns for portable dance floors, according to Glaister.
“Magnattach’s low cost of ownership is another factor influencing venue operators… and their accountants,” he said.
Glaister said an important consideration is total cost of ownership over time. Initial price is a factor (Magnattach floors are generally a little more than traditional floors), but with old tech portable flooring, maintenance costs plus slow setups and breakdowns impose huge ongoing costs.
“While the Magnattach is not surprisingly a little more expensive to buy verses a parquetry floor of similar dimensions, the savings in labour create a break-even in just over six months for the average venue,” he said.
Glaister said the speed of the dance floor set-up and removal has created a ‘game-change’ opportunity with added revenue benefits. The extremely fast setup and breakdown allows venues to ‘turn’ rooms that could never have been sold using ‘old tech’ floors.
“That’s a new source of revenue,” he told HM.