The Posh Pit, in the words of the MONA website, gives you access to our exclusive lounge, bar and private deck - complete with über comfy seating, table service, and complimentary canapes, pastries and beverages. Posh as.
Which, I guess, is the point where we divert onto a consideration of niche market tourism.
Now, you might think that a quirky and often confrontational gallery containing a mixture of Old and New Art (the M, of course, stands for Museum) would be a minor draw card, operating to a limited market.
Our Friday night stay at Cleburne had been followed by breakfast where the other guests had included a young couple (actor and artist) who were headed over to MONA for the day. They’d flown down from Sydney the night before, were doing MONA that day and would take in a few other sights and whatever before flying north again on Sunday.
They wouldn’t have been rolling in dosh, being creative types (remuneration for struggling artists and actors had been a topic over breakfast), but they were down there and would be throwing a bit of money around and making a contribution to the local economy.
Maybe if they were a little better off financially they’d have been staying in one of the Pavilions (Charles, Brett, Arthur, Robin and Esmond). If you haven’t done so already, click on that link and you’ll find a booking page with details of availability over the next fortnight. The first thing to note is the Full Rate price, at $600 or $700 per night. Then cast your eye over the fortnight, noting the ratio of Sold to unsold nights. When I did so, for the purposes of this exercise I noted five options, which, as your primary school mathematics will tell you, multiplied by fourteen nights works out to seventy slots. A glance at the availability shows three $600s and another four $700s which translates to a 90% occupancy rate over the next fortnight.
As of today at those prices.
There are actually eight Pavilions, though there’s no way of knowing where the other three are, and how they fit into the calculations, but let’s just reiterate. They seem to be getting around around 90% occupancy over the upcoming fortnight at a base rate of either $600 or $700.
So what do you get for the money?