A cruise ship on land

Paradise Resort: A cruise ship on land

By Mandy Clarke, Editor

Dr Jerry Schwartz, the fl amboyant 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 fi rst two years alone to ensure the Surfers Paradise property remained what he calls “Australia’s favourite family resort”.

Despite a lack of cashfl ow 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 cutt ing a ceremonial ribbon alongside the Queensland Minister for Tourism, Kate Jones and promptly jumping into the swimming pool.

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 Sofi tel 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 benefi ts 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 aff ected by COVID. “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.”

He said the Paradise Resort was “always the number one kids’ hotel but it had been gett ing 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.”

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 diffi culty 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 terrifi c diff erence. We are gett ing 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.

For the next couple of years, the resort will be reduced to 300 rooms as we refurbish all the rooms 60 at a time.

“We are putt ing in new beds, new bathrooms, new carpet, new carpentry, new TVs. The fi rst 60 refurbished rooms will be ready for the Christmas holidays when we will roll onto the next 60.

“Stage 1b of the renovations will see a – merry-go-round put in and a trackless train that’s just arrived from Canada.

“Stage 2 will see a whole new facility. There will be an adult lounge where the reception area used to be and an adults pool – we’ve also done the excavation for that.

“Now that the hotel is operating again hopefully, we’ll get enough cash fl ow to commence Stage 2 in the next two months.

“Stage 3, for which we’ve already got council permission, is to build a cinema and a kids play area and also a large cool room so that we can distribute my brewery beers and ciders which we produce in the Hunter Valley. We will commence that aft er we fi nish the pool and adult area

so there is still a lot of exciting things to look forward to.

“Even before COVID, the Gold Coast was the most sought aft er holiday spot in Australia and particularly aft er COVID, with the Queensland weather and all the facilities on the Gold Coast, it’s a no brainer that it will go really well for Australian leisure [tourism].’’

The purchase of the Paradise Resort came aft er the Schwartz family paid China's Ja Feng group $70 million for the Hilton Surfers Paradise in January last year.

“We’ve just fi nished doing up the foyer there and that’s been quite a major refurbishment,” Dr Schwartz said.

“I’ve put an anatomy exhibition into the Hilton’s foyer – an exhibition of human body parts. It is very Gold Coast ¬– providing a great facility and a unique att raction, the only permanent anatomy display in Australia

“It’s typical of the things I like to do – providing great facilities with an added att raction.” Dr Schwartz said his family hotel business was started in the late 1970s by his father Bela, a Hungarian-born Sydney dentist, when he purchased the Forrest Motor Lodge in Canberra, a favourite spot for politicians to stay.

“I now buy hotels that are slightly distressed,” Dr Schwartz said, “but which have huge potential. There is a pleasure in doing them up and realising the potential.

“I enjoy every facet of the business – dealing with good people in the hospitality business, the technology involved, the refurbishing, staffi ng, giving people some pleasure – not just giving people a room but providing other facilities for them to enjoy.”

Dr Schwartz graduated from the University of Sydney in January 1979 and trained in Australia and Britain in emergency medicine and surgery, including cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, plastic surgery and burns.

He has postgraduate degrees in ophthalmology and holds certifi cation in various cosmetic and laser surgery societies.

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Working with our import partner Multi Group Plus for the Spirit dining chairs to both the restaurant area of 250 units and also in the refurbished hotel units. e newly designed Chua leisure chair featured also in the hotel units.

Working alongside Seating Plus suppliers of the restaurant tables were Pacic Furniture Design, manufacturers of the restaurant banquet seating.

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He still practises in the Sydney suburb of Matraville but admits he has to manage his time carefully with so many hotels to oversee.

Epic kid wonderland refurb at Paradise Resort

Mandy Clarke spoke with the management team at Dr Jerry Schwartz’ famous family adventure destination on the Gold Coast to find out how its recent upgrade played out.

The investment to refurbish Paradise Resort Gold Coast has been great news for Aussie families who are keen to visit the country’s playground.

Set on five acres and close to beaches and attractions, the resort offers an assortment of 360 comfortable, quirky guest rooms including the popular themed Junior and King Bunkhouse rooms. The first stage of the renovation has created a fresh new look and feel for the property’s public areas, restaurants and recreation facilities, explained David Brook, who has been the resort’s general manager for ten years.

“This refurbishment has been a huge undertaking; this was not just a lick of paint! We ripped everything out of the kitchen, food outlets, bar, and lobby - we took it back to bare concrete and then refurbished everything from the fire system to the electrical system, the wifi and the PMS.

“Once everything back of house was completed, we moved to the fun part - the fitout and furnishings! It took us five months to complete but it was well worth the effort! Our aim was to keep the design kidfocused but now the spaces are equally as appealing to adults, with the overall look now stylish and subtle but still great fun.”

Some of the guest rooms have

also been refreshed with 22 newly refurbished rooms due to open in November and a further 44 more ready for guests by mid-December, with all the remaining rooms scheduled over the next few years.

David Brook, general manager is very proud of what has been achieved: “We are fortunate because there are not many owners like Dr Jerry Schwartz who have such insight into the resort market and are willing to commit significant dollars during a decline.

“He used phenomenal foresight when he put forward the cash for this refurbishment because it meant that we were able to keep all of our staff employed throughout the COVID period reassigning to tasks such as gardening, cleaning demolition and painting.

He added: “It is hard to find quality staff once you lose them, so we were extremely mindful to ensure we went that extra mile to retain them all.”

The open resort has been busier than expected and according to David, during the September school holiday period they had occupancy levels of 50 – 55 percent which is remarkable considering the closure of the borders and having 66 guest rooms closed for refurbishment.

David who started his long career as a kitchen hand in a hotel in the UK, says he is particularly impressed with the new-look F&B outlets and he suggests the completed bar area has taken the resort to a new level of style and quality. However, he admits to having a particular soft spot for the refreshed, cute and quirky Penguins restaurant and is also excited about the new train and track that is about to arrive at the resort along with a new merry go round.

However, he added: “Adults also need a break when the kids are in the kid’s club, so I am also looking forward to the completion of the new adultsonly pool, bar and lounge.”

The new lobby and reception have a fun coastal flavour with the addition of a large and colourful aquarium (another signature feature of the hotel’s colourful owner). A new games room, guest laundry and retail boutique have been added, along with the Penguins family restaurant, Jerrys Burgers, Debs Pizza Shack and the Poolside Café and Bar.

The entire central resort area features a giant lagoon pool, large, heated spa and two enormous Zones for Kids (Z4K). The resort has always been renowned for its fantastic kids’ facilities, and it is delighting litt le guests with the recent total refurbishment of the waterpark, adventure playground and PLANET CHILL (the only permanent iceskating rink onsite a resort in the Southern Hemisphere).

David Brook added: “For parents and children who’ve experienced so much disruption this year, Paradise Resort off ers the perfect environment to re-capture the holiday spirit. Children will be totally entertained, allowing the adults to chill out and recharge their batt eries.”

How would penguins prefer to sit? In style, of course

Seating Plus is a respected manufacturer and distributor of hospitality and offi ce furniture that was selected by the Paradise Resort design team to help furnish its newly renovated Penguins Cove Family Restaurant.

Wayne Russell from Seating Plus told us: “We furnished the New Penguin Cove Restaurant area with our locally made booths in conjunction with Pacifi c Furniture Design using the Warwick Charisma Commercial Vinyl range.

“Our import partner Multi Group Plus supplied the Spirit dining chairs to both the Restaurant area 250 units and also to the refurbished hotel units.

“The newly designed Chua chair featured also in the hotel units. As a leading supplier to both hospitality and business sectors we can off er a full range of standard and custom-made products to suit individual projects. Our ranges include cafe

Hard times

call for innovative responses

chairs, stools, booth seating, table tops and bases along with offi ce chairs, reception and break out seating, workstation systems, desking and fi ling systems.”

Playground surfacing fi t for litt le kings, queens, and everything in-betweens

Industry supplier Pro One Soft fall creates safe, dynamic, creative, soft fall spaces.

The Pro One team of experts was selected by the Paradise Resort designers to refurbish the surfaces in the resort’s recreational areas.

Safety was the priority and Andrew Forward from Pro One told us: “We provided the rubber soft fall under the relocated playground which looks great and complies with stringent Australian playground safety standards.

Pro One also replaced the surfacing for both the water park and main pool. Andrew explained: “The old rubber was removed and the concrete prepared and primed to ensure excellent adhesion of the new surfacing. This was followed by installing chloring resistant TPV rubber surfacing. Our team created freehand themed shapes keyed into rubber.”

Finally, Pro One installed synthetic turf in three areas of the resort.

Andrew said: “This involved the removal and disposal of exiting turf in front of the cafe area, the area surrounding stage and around the pools. Existing concrete was ‘V cut’ to create an optimal neat edge recess for the grass to lay into, leaving no trip points. An Australian made premium synthetic grass product was installed which uses exclusive HeatBlock Technology, this makes it very suitable for litt le feet in high sun areas.”

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