I understand that the Australian tourism industry faces challenges, especially in the area of labour costs. However, there are two particular aspects of the Australian scene that I was reminded of while on our recent trip to the Gold Coast.
The first is the common requirement for 10 am checkouts. In my experience, the accommodation industry in many other parts of the world seems to survive on an 11 am checkout time, yet in Australia 10 am seems to be the standard - and there are often prominent (unsubtle) reminders of this in the rooms.
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| On the Yangtze - with access to the internet! |
The second is that free (or even modestly priced) wi fi in hotels and apartments is still, unfortunately, the
exception in Australia. This is in contrast to many other parts of
the world, including many hotels in Europe and even China. During our time in China, every hotel we stayed in had free
internet access (although in one case, it was wired). Even when cruising the Yangtze, internet was available, albeit that there was a
modest charge. I was told that the remoteness of some parts of the
river meant that it couldn't always be guaranteed (but in fact I had no real
issues).
Yes, there's a certain amount of self-interest in my comments, and I guess there would be some cost if changes to these policies were to be implemented - but it's hard to imagine that these would be very great yet the benefit to tourists would be significant.
It is a curious thing that Australian rooms on my memory were pioneers of complimentary tea and coffee- seemingly decades ahead of international 3 * norms. But internet...again early on you could sneak your dial-up into any telephone connection, until hotel systems changed and it might fry your modem. A while ago we stayed at an exclusive 5* boutique hotel in the Rocks in Sydney. They gave a superior shrug about wifi but said they had a couple of modems, one of which might become available, at an hourly charge! (It didn't, over our 4 day stay.) Not surprisingly this place closed soon after but was re-opened by an international chain (Langham). It now offers 4 telephones, fax and modem facility! (If you have to ask the price of a modem you can't afford it.) Welcome to the Australian 1990s, and why bother with NBN when you might able to get telex.
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