Gold Coast resort orders staff to get the coronavirus vaccination

A well-known Gold Coast resort has given its staff a deadline to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

A Gold Coast resort has ordered staff to get the coronavirus vaccine in a push to kickstart the tourism industry.

Management at Paradise Resort Gold Coast has written to staff asking them to be vaccinated by November in the hope other hotels will follow suit and inspire the recovery of the travel industry and the economy at large.

Already some major businesses including Qantas have announced mandates for staff to get vaccinated, and Paradise Resort will join the move, fuelled by the knowledge that many of the property’s guests are still too young to be eligible for a vaccine.

So far, quarantine hotels have enforced vaccination requirements, but the policy has not yet spread to mainstream hotels and resorts.

Paradise Resort Gold Coast is introducing a vaccination policy for workers with staff Amy Lin, David Brook and Abbey Lennon among those already vaccinated. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

Paradise Resort owner Dr Jerry Schwartz said an internal staff questionnaire had found about 98 per cent of the hotel’s 500 employees were in favour of the move which was “the only real way out of the pandemic”.

“It’s just commonsense really,” he said.

“All of our guests either have children or are children themselves and there is a huge issue at the moment with preventing the spread of the virus.

“The hotel industry has been devastated by Covid and policies of governments, so it is essential we equip ourselves with the tools to drive a recovery once the country reaches 80% vaccination and travel returns to relative normality.

“However, we know that children under-12 cannot be vaccinated, and so to ensure the welfare of both our guests and our staff, we need to insist on mandatory vaccination, with the priority being for any staff who interact with guests, and then all staff working across the hotel.”

Dr Jerry Schwartz hopes to have staff across all his hotel interests vaccinated as soon as possible. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

He said moves would be made to offer flexibility to workers reluctant to get the jab, but ultimately it would be for the safety of guests and the community.

“I’m a doctor, so in my opinion, not getting vaccinated doesn’t make sense from a medical viewpoint,” he said.

“We will try and reposition them (staff who are reluctant to get vaccinated) into roles where they don’t have to come in contact with guests, but ultimately if they don’t want to be vaccinated and can’t be around our guests, I don’t think this is the kind of place for them to work.”

Dr Schwartz is one of Australia’s biggest independent accommodation operators with thousands of staff across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

He said he hoped to have staff across all his hotels vaccinated in the future.

Originally published as Gold Coast resort orders staff to get the coronavirus vaccination