The monopolistic mess that is Ayers Rock Resort
Jan 21st, 2008 by Nick
On their guest survey forms, the people at Voyages who run the Ayers Rock Resort ask a question about rating “value for money” on a scale to 10. My answer is somewhere around -4. This has been the only truly disappointing part of the trip. The fact that the Australian government has granted Voyages a monopoly situation at Ayers Rock is a tragedy that just pulls A$50 bills out of your wallet at a rapid pace.
Where should I begin? I’m sitting in the most posh property, the “Sails in the Desert” hotel. All the properties are situated along a ring road about 5 minutes from the airport and about 25 minutes from the Rock itself. They’ve discounted rooms here at the last minute, down to A$350/night from A$442 or A$514. The buffet dinner is A$58. A 40oz bottle of water is A$7.
I’m staying at the lowest-end property (excluding the campgrounds), the Outback Pioneer. My “budget room” is actually a bunkhouse for four that I have all to myself, for A$192. For that, I get “two star lodge” accomodations, meaning no TV and twin beds in a cinderblock building. There are three star more traditional hotel rooms, but they were sold out to a Japanese tour group.
To make matters worse, four of the five properties have wireless internet, as does the campground. The Outback Pioneer? No, we have kiosks at 10 cents/minute. So, I’ve been spending most of today in the lobby at the Sails in the Desert, where I purchased a day’s worth of wireless internet.
The lights/AC in any of the rooms (at any property) do not work unless you are in the room. How, you ask? Because you have to stick your key into the master power to activate it. Only the minifridge and clock stay working when you’re out of the room. So, it takes easily an hour to cool off the room when it’s 102 outside, and even then it never really gets cool.
I’m not too annoyed with the budget room itself. I wasn’t willing to pay an extra $100 to $250/night for two nights for anything nicer. Even though it’s a cot setup, it was comfortable, and I can live without the TV.
What I’m really annoyed about is the nickel-and-diming of the property. I started off in a bad mood when I found out that there was no courtesy shuttle to the cultural center, and that I had five minutes to decide if I wanted to go or else waste all of Sunday night in the room. If it wasn’t for the grocery store (which they have to have for the campers as well as for the employees), it would be an unmitigated disaster. I was able to pick up today’s lunch, tomorrow’s breakfast, and some snacks to go with dinner for A$33. The 40oz water was only A$3.65 instead of A$7 - compared to A$2 at your typical Coles or Woolworths.
Some prime examples of the greed:
- The hotel prices themselves. I know they’re in the middle of nowhere, but I have to think a little competition could get a Hampton Inn type place in here for A$135/night in the off-season (which is what we’re in right now);
- Deciding that the Outback guests can pay $12/hour for internet kiosks instead of $25/day for wireless;
- Charging a 1% surcharge for all credit card transactions;
- Charging $35 per trip for the shuttle service to the rock, that only runs once/hour;
- $8.43 for a 750ml bottle of water at dinner last night.
I thought my friend Ed was crazy when he did Uluru as an all-day bus tour from Alice Springs (425 km each way). Given the monopolistic situation here, it isn’t as crazy as I thought. I still wouldn’t do it, because I think the sunrise tour is the highlight of being here.
While I’m flying to Sydney tomorrow, I’ll put together some thoughts as to how to organize your visit to Uluru in a way that minimizes the pain of the resort.
