Travel review: Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino, Gold Coast

The Gold Coast’s Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino is a property desperately in need of a refurbishment.

Jupiter’s was built in the late 1980s as part of Australia’s initial casino mania. Today it’s looking its age despite several refurbishments in recent years.

Apart from the gambling room, the complex’s main attraction is its proximity to the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Location

Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino is located centrally on the Gold Coast in Broadbeach, around 4km South of Surfers Paradise and 20km North of the Airport, right next to the Pacific Fair shopping mall.

The Casino sits on its own island some 500m away from the beach. The Gold Coast Convention Centre is a 200m walk from the hotel across an open air walkbridge.

Most of the time that walk will be fine but be prepared to get soaked in wet weather.

There is also a cheesy and largely pointless monorail that runs to the shopping complex across the highway. The $3 fare is reportedly waived for hotel guests but check at reception first.

Check-in

The front desk staff are friendly and helpful. There was no problem with checking in two hours before the official check-in time.

Asking reception for some fresh milk for the tea making facilities was no problem.

Rooms

While it’s claimed there have been ongoing refurbishments since 2008, the rooms are dated and tired, despite a relatively recent paint job.

Beds are comfortable and the blackout blinds do a good job of plunging the room into darkness and keeping the early morning or late evening sun out of the room on a hot day.

The bathroom, mini-bar and tea making facilities are basic but adequate. Each room has a digital combination safe as well as ironing equipment.

One aspect of the 1980s legacy is the scarcity of power points with only one double power outlet next to the fixed desk unit. Luckily there are nearby shopping centres to buy a powerboard if you can’t borrow one from reception.

Rooms have wireless and wired Internet available for a fee, although it may waived for convention guests. Surfing and downloads are extremely quick.

Amenities in the room are satisfactory with the standard range of free to air and cable TV stations including CNN, Bloomberg Asia and Sky.

Unfortunately the room doesn’t have dressing gowns and it’s little touches like that which let the hotel down.

Fitness Facilites

the Gym is well equipped with the usual range of weights, rowing and walking machines and open from 5.30am on weekdays.

 It’s open to the public and could get crowded at busy times. The weekend times are fairly limited with Sunday being a stingy 8am to 4pm, Saturday’s are 7 to 5.

If you want a swim, there’s a large, warm pool next door to the gym and lap swimmers can get a 25m stretch if it isn’t busy. The pool area is open from 6am to 9pm and also has two spa baths.

Overall impressions

Jupiter’s desperately needs an investor to spruce the place up. The public areas are looking  run down with chipped tiles and scuffed walls. Generally there’s a faded 1980s vibe about the place.

That 1980s feel also comes from the patrons, a midweek stay at Jupiter’s will find you sharing with a lot of grumpy seniors who are presumably playing the pokies (slot) and games in the casino.

In many respects Jupiter’s reflects much of what is wrong with Australian hospitality — a 1980s property that hasn’t had the investment to compete in the 21st Century catering for a declining, low value segment of the marketplace.

Overall the hotel is adequate but there are better deals to be had on the Gold Coast.

If you’re attending a conference at the Gold Coast Conference Centre then it may be worth checking out rooms at the nearby Sofitel or the many serviced apartments in the Broadbeach area.

Paul stayed at Jupiter’s Hotel and Casino courtesy of Microsoft when attending the 2012 Australian TechEd conference.

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Travel review – Jetstar JQ406 Sydney to Coolangatta

Jetstar delivers on the low cost operator promise, just don’t expect anything more than a flight.

One of the delightful aspects of the low cost airline model is the contempt management has for their customers.

That scorn for the people who fund management’s salaries is guilty pleasure to watch on a third rate TV “reality” show, but it’s not fun when you’re on the receiving end.

So with a fixed smile and a grim determination not to to let the bastards grind me down, I headed to Sydney Airport to catch Jetstar’s flight JQ406 to the Gold Coast

Check in

It’s no conincidence people make reality TV shows documenting the clash of penny pinching, ticket clipping corporatism with the modern lumpenproletariat; the queues are long and the tempers are frayed.

The key to your temper surviving Jetstar’s check in is not to have checked baggage so you can dodge the general grumpiness in the queues.

Otherwise have your all your documents handy when you get to the check in clerk as they are quite friendly once they realise you aren’t going to mess them around.

Seats

A positive with Jetstar is the seats are spacious and comfortable compared to their Virgin competition and Qantas cousins.

While seat comfort isn’t an issue on a one hour flight it is a plus on longer flights and actually makes Jetstar a reasonable choice if you want to sleep on a ‘red eye’ from Perth.

Meals

As a low cost airline, meals and drinks are an extra charge on Jetstar and really who can be bothered on a mid-morning one hour flight?

During the Flight

An irritation with JQ is the early “turn of electronic devices” policy that sees cabin crew telling you to turn off devices the moment the plane starts its descent.

On short trips this weird policy means as little as twenty minutes time available to use a laptop or tablet, if you want to work on your flight then choosing Virgin or Qantas will give you more time to get things done.

On arrival

Baggage collection was surprisingly slow for a relatively quiet airport and Coolangatta Airport’s management save a few bucks by opening a minimum of luggage carousels which can cause crowds if two flight arrive at once.

Getting away

Coolangatta Airport is a delight for transport with plenty of taxis, including Maxi Cabs that seat half a dozen people and a regular city bus service that runs the length of the Gold Coast.

Overall Jetstar delivers what it promises, an 21st Century air flight that does its best to imitate a 20th Century bus.

If there is an alternative at a reasonable cost then go for it, otherwise accept the low prices and avoid checking baggage.

Paul travelled to the Gold Coast courtesy of Microsoft to attend their Australian TechEd event.

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Nightlife Computers: Sockpuppets, trolls and fakes

Can you trust what is written on Facebook or online review sites and what are the responsibilities for business on social media sites?

Paul Wallbank joined Tony Delroy for the 6 September 2012 ABC Nightlife technology spot to discuss sock puppets, what they mean on review sites and what this means for businesses using social media as a marketing tool.

If you missed the program, you can listen to the podcast from the Tony Delroy’s Nightlife page.

This week’s sock puppet scandal puts the light on authors’ book reviews on sites like Amazon while other review services like TripAdvisor, Yelp and Urbanspoon continue to struggle with figuring out which reviews are real.

Businesses also have to worry about what people are posting in light of the recent Advertising Standards and ACCC rulings making businesses more accountable with what’s posted on Facebook.

Some of the questions we’ll look at include;

Join us from 10pm, Australian Eastern Time on Thursday September 5 on your local ABC radio station or listen online through their streaming service at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

We’d love to hear your views so join the conversation with your on-air questions, ideas or comments; phone in on the night on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, or through twitter to @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

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