A Western Australian Tourist

At The Pinnacles

Roo on road

   Recently a Canadian friend, Mike, came to visit us.  He had been hobnobbing around SouthEast Asia and made the detour to Perth before flying back to Alberta.  Mike did the usual touristy things: visit some natural phenomena, take photos of exotic road kill, check out what the foreign grocery stores have, buy some souvenirs and taste the local cuisine.  Standard recipe for a short stay in a foreign place. And we were happy to be his hosts.
    Where all this became unhappily memorable is the experience he has doubtless  shared with many tourists to the state of Western Australia.  It can be wickedly expensive.  For his greater comfort, Mike had opted to stay at a hotel shortly after his arrival. The few rooms listed at $100 a night had booked out weeks ago. Many, MANY phone calls later, we found a hotel at the fringes of downtown that actually had openings for several days... at any price.  Sunday's bed at The Melbourne came with a price tag of $160. O.K. but there is no such thing as a 'weekly rate' and the final bill for four nights came to over $1000.  The staff was friendly enough but not really knowledgeable about what was beyond their doors. And the serious skewer came when Mike needed a few pairs of socks and underwear laundered to get him through the end of the trip. The Hilary & Kev Laundry Service is free but the laundry service at the hotel was more immediate and potentially less embarrassing.  And it was considerably  more expensive.

Comparing prices

    To the tune of $5 PER SOCK. 

    Hotels always charge a premium but this boggled the mind. They insisted that they receive not a single cent from the outside service that picks up the laundry orders.  Mike's irate calls to the Tourism WA office, Better Business Bureau, Mayor's Ombudsman and anybody else who would pick up their phone came up with the same answer.  "It's a 'boom' economy. It's what the traffic will bear."   And it is complete and utter nonsense.  The 'boom' isn't that big and there is no fine line between what the traffic will bear and wanton greed.

    Tourism WA is trying desperately to get Sandgropers (residents of WA) to vacation in the state.  Who are they kidding?  One can fly to Bali with five nights in a hotel for the price of two nights in a Perth hotel.  It is trying with all the energy and lack of circumspection of a 13 year-old to court moneyed Chinese tourists to come here as well.   The Chinese, with their fabled business acumen,  won't need too long before they figure out that making money by doing the same for less here is a better plan than endlessly dropping dollars at overpriced establishments.  Once a destination gets a reputation for "shaving the heads" of  its tourists ( a very popular sport in Vietnam) it can be hard to shake.  Word of mouth and tour books  can do damage to a place's image for years beyond the actual fact.  Tourism WA needs to work more on the experience tourists will have once here.  The Australian attitude of  "if you don't like it, lump it" has no place in the hospitality industry--especially in this state.

   It turns out that Mike was charged $5 per pair of socks.  And if you are a guest of ours, count on free laundry (Kev will do it if guys are sensitive about their unmentionables)  and a far greater sense of hospitality. Everyone else...well, do come to see some of WA's natural wonders but with a little more money than you might think.