“Four stars, you must be joking!” is the heading of a review post on Tripadvisor.com by a couple who stayed at the York Fairmont Resort in March — but it’s no laughing matter anymore for the embattled property’s management.
The Gazette can reveal the resort’s owners, Brighten Management Pty Ltd, had their user rights of an official star rating stripped by AAA Tourism last Thursday, effectively banning promotion of York Fairmont Resort as a star-rated property until further investigation.
The resort was downgraded from 4.5 stars to 3.5 stars by AAA Tourism earlier this month and is now officially zero stars, but at the time of this edition going to print, the resort’s website still promoted the property as being 4.5 stars in its “about us” section.
Blue Mountains Tourism Limited (BMTL) also took strong action against the resort last week following a highly publicised “nightmare stay” by more than 20 guests during the Easter long weekend that resulted in a petition and police being called.
Guest complaints ranged from rooms not being serviced to dirty and broken facilities, unauthorised transactions and next to no service by a skeleton staff.
Complaints of this nature have been rising steadily since Brighten switched brands from Peppers to York after purchasing the property in December 2007.
The resort’s pool was closed by council on March 3 due to non-compliance with regulations, management received a $660 fine on December 10, 2008 after it was found to be in breach of food preparation requirements and council is now looking into issues associated with non-compliance with fire regulations.
A Federal Workplace Ombudsman’s investigation into staff-related matters at York Fairmont Resort continues.
Describing the situation as “very disappointing”, BMTL in conjunction with Tourism NSW and Blue Mountains City Council temporarily removed York Fairmont Resort from their websites and stopped taking bookings for the property.
In a meeting with the resort’s general manager Helen Walker last Friday, a BMTL delegation gave a deadline of today (April 29) for Brighten to commit to appointing a public relations agency, a major brand to manage the resort and to demonstrate tangible changes have occurred to address the underperformance of the property.
BMTL chairman Randall Walker said an offer of assistance was accepted by the resort’s owners, but if the three requirements by BMTL cannot be met, further penalties could apply.
Mr Walker said the omission of a property from BMTL’s website as a penalty is “unprecedented”.
“They’ve (York Fairmont Resort’s management and owners) done damage not only to their brand but to the Blue Mountains,” said Mr Walker.
“We have 300 members and one is letting the team down as the others are working hard every day to deliver world class experiences to visitors.
“I feel for the other members who are potentially affected by this.”
Mr Walker said complaints have also been received about York’s other Blue Mountains property, Leura Gardens Resort.
Reliable sources have confirmed to the Gazette the current level of total staff at York Fairmont Resort is down to 40, well down on an estimated 100 to 150 staff employed there in early 2007 by Peppers.
In a positive move, BMTL and more than 10 of its members will offer a complimentary one night stay in the Blue Mountains plus free entry to at least six major attractions to those guests that stayed at York Fairmont Resort during the Easter long weekend.
“I was happy we got on top of it and got that positive message out quickly,” said Mr Walker.
“I thank all those generous operators that unhesitatingly said yes.
“It’s crisis moments like this that should make all of us proud of our tourism industry.”
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