High Yield Tourism property investment South Australia

If I had been writing this feature in, say, 1988, the very notion of hotel luxury would have been different to today’s norm. Two decades ago glitz ruled, from gold doorknobs and taps to kidney-shaped spa tubs and curtain arrangements so swagged and lavish they almost came with shoulder pads.

Nothing succeeded like excess. A canopied four-poster bed, frantic colour combination (pink and green, orange and blue, gold leaf galore) and marble by the barrow-load was the template for five-star glamour Down Under. Staff wore brocade waistcoats and directed guests to the gym, the business centre and the fine dining room, where first-class service involved silver domes lifted with synchronised theatricality, cheese trolleys and flaming desserts.

Two decades later and we have survived the sharp, edgy and all-white minimalism of the ’90s to make a detour back to a pared-down maximalism. Comfort is the key, combined with a sense of sanctuary and a new emphasis on discreet service and instant connectivity. We want the notion of privacy but the reality of being wired into the real world. We live in well-designed homes, often with flat-screen televisions, semi-professional kitchens and pools, and we want to stay somewhere that offers something better, or at least thrillingly different. Luxury in a time-poor world is now as much a mindset as a checklist of amenities.

There are luxury options across the nation, from the five-star safari chic of Bamurru Plains in the Top End to boutique period gems such as the finely detailed Hatherley House in Launceston and the art-filled Islington in Hobart. There has been an explosion in the past 10 years of bespoke accommodation catering to specific market needs; often this can be found in unlikely locales, such as rainforest lodges and eco-spas in Queensland’s World Heritage-listed Daintree, or remote reaches such as NSW’s Lord Howe Island where James and Hayley Baillie of Baillie Lodges run the chic Capella Lodge; at the end of this month, the Baillies will open Southern Ocean Lodge on South Australia’s wildly beautiful Kangaroo Island.

***High-end travellers are increasingly better educated and aware and their benchmarks have been lifted. James Baillie calls this market “platinum nomads”. They are eco-aware, rich in cash and time, and seek pristine environments and a good level of appropriate comfort. ***

Hotels that have not leapt forward from the ’90s and attuned to the new maximum-comfort ethos are doomed. We are “over” all-white hotels that gleam like hospitals, free-standing tubs plonked in bedrooms like altars to the art of bathing (past a certain age, tub-taking ceases to be a spectator sport) and guestrooms with more stainless steel than an operating theatre. Add to the “out” list: blinds and taps that require a diploma from NASA to operate, spindly chairs made for gushing over rather than sitting in, and those dilly platform beds with wide shelf-like bases designed to cause small industrial accidents to one’s shins.

You know it’s time to move on when hotel accessorisers of the ilk of Philippe Starck are making those impractical stand-up washbasins on stilts for three-star airport hotels.

What next? Pundits predict spa annexes in guestrooms to which therapists can be summoned for treatments, the rise of the private pool at resorts of all sizes, small kitchens (not for anything as prosaic as making one’s toast and tea, but for hotel chefs to prepare in-room meals for guests) and pull-down movie screens. There will be personalised shoppers who’ll take over your to-buy list while you have a meeting (or a massage) and, in areas of scenic or environmental importance, a green agenda and continuing emphasis on the location, be it via appropriate produce, locally sourced design materials or well-versed guides offering tailored excursions or talks for guests. The look is maximum comfort, well-cushioned, richly detailed and with direct design references to each property’s location.

Luxury is about attention and empathy, too; it’s that magic-radar effect of knowing what guests want almost before they do. It was, by coincidence, also in 1988 that I was delivered a basket of fruit from a Brisbane hotel manager and even through the acid-yellow cellophane I could see the mangoes and bananas were speckled. I asked the bellboy why the fruit looked rotten. Defensively, he told me that he had been trying to deliver it for a week but I was never in my room. Of course: no guest means no gratuity to grease outstretched hand. Any hotelier who thinks we can maintain a holding pattern of poor service and indifference to the needs of sophisticated travellers is not going to succeed in the 21st century.

And that’s a very good tip.

Susan Kurosawa is The Australian’s travel editor.
WHAT MAKES A LUXURY HOTEL?
Day spa: Whether city hotel or holiday resort, a spa is de rigueur, even if it’s just a small but well-equipped room. Note: a spa in 21st-century parlance never means a hot tub; jacuzzis in bathrooms are as out of date as typewriters.

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The magic minute of sunset on the Murray River 5 minutes from home

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