Paradise Resort:
A cruise ship on land
“We are marketing it as a cruise ship on land and because cruise ships aren’t operating, we also plan to get the cruise ship business as well.”
By Mandy Clarke, Editor
Dr Jerry Schwartz, the flamboyant Sydney doctor who is Australia's biggest private owner of hotels, is convinced the Gold Coast will remain the playground of Australia and that his newest acquisition there is primed for a post-COVID bonanza. Last year, Dr Schwartz paid $43 million to rescue the 360-room Paradise Resort from potential liquidation under the insolvent Ralan Group and announced he would invest more than $12 million in the first two years alone to ensure the Surfers Paradise property remained what he calls “Australia’s favourite family resort”. Despite a lack of cashflow during the pandemic, as occupancy rates fell to 10 percent across his portfolio, he celebrated the grand relaunch of the Paradise Resort on 29 February, 2020 by cutting a ceremonial ribbon alongside the Queensland Minister for Tourism, Kate Jones and promptly jumping into the swimming pool.
36
AccomNews - Spring 2020
He said the Paradise Resort was “always the number one kids’ hotel but it had been getting really tired, not just the kid’s facilities but the rooms”. “People would think twice [about staying there] because the rooms were shabby, and it was almost like camping.”
Kate Jones and Dr Jerry Schwartz
The addition of the Paradise Resort to Dr Schwartz’s portfolio brings his holdings to 15 hotels across Australia, ranging in size from the 88room Novotel in Newcastle to the 590-room Sofitel in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. His family company controls more than 4000 hotel rooms, and he says despite the damage done by COVID to the accommodation industry, the Paradise Resort is
ready to reap the benefits in a post-pandemic holiday boom. “I think that because of COVID [the Paradise Resort] is actually going to do fantastically well,’’ Dr Schwartz told Accom News. “The Gold Coast has always been Australia’s playground and this resort is a place purely for leisure – it hasn’t got any corporate business which is affected by COVID.
REFURBISHMENT
Stage 1 of the resort’s renovation was “the most important to get the hotel open again and to do the things that you would have had great difficulty doing if the hotel was operating. “What we have done is totally strip the reception area, totally stripped all the food and beverage areas and stripped the kitchen. “That will make a terrific difference. We are getting really good feedback from all the guests now. They come in and they go `WOW’. “We have also spruced up all of the rooms as well as totally stripping 66 of them. www.accomnews.com.au
