Agenerous lick of pastel paint, fringed umbrellas installed poolside, a new name… Along coastal and outback routes across Australia, a new room boom is under way as daggy ’80s motels are reincarnated as boutique accommodation with evocative monikers such as Casita (Batemans Bay) and The Shores (Gold Coast). In Mollymook on the NSW South Coast, Motel Molly’s name is both a riff on its location and a knowing wink at the nickname for that most ’80s of party drugs, MDMA (aka ecstasy).
As of October 1, the ResortBrokers website listed five “retro-style motels” for sale around Australia, noting that one – the Gladstone Palms Motor Inn in Queensland – “boasts a consistent occupancy rate of 78 per cent, supported by a stable base of repeat clientele and trade workers”.
