Palm Cove hotels Sarayi, Reef House and Melaleuca Resort locked in rooftop bar fight

Neighbouring resorts have warned Palm Cove risks becoming the next Gold Coast if plans to open a beachfront tavern and rooftop bar are allowed to proceed.

NEIGHBOURING resorts have warned Palm Cove can “only be killed once” as plans to open a beachfront tavern and rooftop bar press ahead.

Sarayi Boutique Hotel is locked in a long-running Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) dispute over its plan to open the Double Island Tavern.

Its approval was a shemozzle – Cairns Regional Council officers gave it the green light before councillors realised what it would mean for the area.

They then wrote to the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation to ask for its liquor licence to be rejected.

Reef House manager Wayne Harris sits at one of the units that will reportedly be unusable if the rooftop bar, whose balcony is visible, is allowed to go ahead. Picture: Brian Cassey

The licence was approved, and now neighbouring businesses are making one last-ditch effort to have it blocked.

Reef House co-owner Malcolm Bean said the rooftop bar would force his business and nearby Melaleuca Resort to shut down, causing the loss of 70 jobs.

He said its 10pm cut-off time would change the fabric of the sleepy Palm Cove waterfront and threatened to trigger a knock-on effect that made it the next Gold Coast.

“You can only kill Palm Cove once,” he warned.

The Sarayi rooftop bar will be situated just a few metres from Reef House and Malelueacu Resort rooms. Picture: Brian Cassey

Reef House has rooms and a day spa directly exposed to the nearby rooftop area.

Mr Bean said previous weddings and special events held there had caused multiple complaints and resulted in guests receiving refunds.

The boutique resort goes for about $800 a night and was named TripAdvisor’s “best of the best” award in 2021 for the top 1 per cent of properties that consistently earn rave reviews.

Sarayi began advertising the rooftop bar and tavern for “off-market” sale after it was provisionally awarded a liquor licence in 2020.

“This change will result in financial gain for one person at the expense of 70 local families and destruction of Palm Cove,” Mr Bean said.

A large sign declaring the bar was “coming soon”, was erected last week.

Melaleuca Resort owner Stephen Coop said previous parties on the balcony had been disastrous for his business.

“We’ve made many complaints to police and our guests have made complaints to police,” he said.

“On several occasions, their doors and windows were rattling, and they are forced to retreat from their balconies and lock the house down just to hear the TV.

“We were already feeling rather battered and now there’s a full-time bar being proposed.

“We are dead against it.”

Mr Coop said he had worked in hospitality for decades and a 10pm closure did not mean an end to noise.

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“A bar doesn’t just go quiet because it’s shut – you’ve got the clean-up, the glass bottles and late leavers.

“We’re going to have to suffer them every night.”

Sarayi owner Mark Biancotti has not responded to the Cairns Post, but previously said he was following the rules.

“I’m not doing anything underhanded or anything outside the law. I’m only doing something council and liquor licensing have said I can do,” he said.

Approvals are in place for a six-storey tower to be built at the back of the existing Sarayi hotel – although it is understood there are no immediate plans to start work.

Mr Biancotti is one of four co-owners who have just put a large office, retail and cafe block on the market at the corner of Spence and Abbott streets in the Cairns CBD.

His other property interests include co-ownership of PK’s Jungle Village in Cape Tribulation. QCAT is yet to hand down its decision.

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Originally published as Palm Cove hotels Sarayi, Reef House and Melaleuca Resort locked in rooftop bar fight