Blue Mountains. $20 million upgrade

The Fairmont Resort, at Leura, will benefit from a $20 million upgrade over the next 18 months after being sold by the Bankwest to Schwartz Hotels, the largest family-owned hotel company in Australia. Geoff York will stay on as general manager after rebuilding the resort’s reputation since Deloitte was appointed as administrators in February, after previous owner Brighten Pty Ltd was ruled in court to have defaulted on its loan by running the resort into the ground between 2007 and 2009. The Fairmont Resort is the tenth hotel owned by Schwartz Hotels, established by Dr Schwartz’s late father.

Blue Mountains. Resort operators criticised

Blue Mountains Tourism Limited (BMTL) chairman, Randall Walker, delivered his harshest criticism of the current owners of the downgraded York Fairmont Resort, in Leura, singling them out as causing the most damage ever to the Blue Mountains’ good reputation, according to The Blue Mountains Gazette. The hard line stance follows the owners’ (Michael Kwok and Helen James, since 2007) failure to lift standards, stem negative guest feedback and appoint as promised a recognised and experienced brand to manage the resort — or even a general manager with hospitality experience. “In the history of tourism in the Blue Mountains region no single operator has ever inflicted so much damage to the industry and reputation of the destination,” said Mr Walker. The Gazette contacted co-owner Helen James for a response to Mr Walker’s comments but had not received a reply.