Westin Hotel ditched as Australian Open quarantine venue after legal challenge flagged

The state government has gone to drastic measures to ensure the Australian Open goes ahead, after outrage over its player quarantine plan.

The Westin Hotel won’t be used to quarantine international tennis players ahead of the Australian Open, after the venue’s permanent residents threatened legal action.

A different hotel will now be used to house non-symptomatic tennis players arriving before the tournament.

Police Minister Lisa Neville confirmed an alternative hotel would be used.

“We’ve gone through the process of securing a new site,” Ms Neville said.

While the location of the new venue is still under wraps, preparations will begin today, Ms Neville said.

“We became aware on Sunday that there were some concerns that had been expressed by the residents in the apartments,” she said.

“This is about having goodwill with our hotel partners, we don’t want to be in that position where we’re also concerned this may delay the standing up of the Australian Open.

“So we’ve gone through a process of securing a new site.

“All those sites will be announced formally next week.”

Ms Neville said the government was confident in the infection prevention system that was designed for the Westin.

“We were absolutely confident in the design of the buildings,” Ms Neville said.

“They are separate. The residents are completely separate. It is as if it’s the building next door.”

“We are confident in the health issues.

“We didn’t want to end up in a fight with one of our key partners.

“The Westin was secured in conjunction with Tennis Australia.”

A legal challenge against hotel quarantine arrangement for tennis stars and their teams was flagged on Sunday.

Four hotels will serve as quarantine bases for non-symptomatic players and their entourages for the mandatory 14-day period before being cleared to take part in the tournament next month.

But a legal challenge from high-profile residents of the Westin Hotel was flagged amid anger over a lack of consultation.

A COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria spokesperson said staff were to begin setting up operations at the hotel this week.

“We’ve assessed the suitability of hotels being used for the Australian Open and introduced significant infection prevention and control measures to protect residents, staff and the Victorian community. These measures have been approved by the chief health officer,” she said.

“The existing residents at The Westin Melbourne will be completely separate from the quarantine program and will have no contact with staff or residents. There will be a separate entrance, dedicated lifts, exclusive floors with no shared common spaces and no shared ventilation between the floors.

“This is in addition to strict safety measures in place at The Westin Melbourne with floor monitors stationed on every floor, a 24/7 Victoria Police presence, daily staff testing, pre-emptive contact tracing, stringent PPE use and infection prevention and control processes embedded throughout the program.”

But talks late on Monday night will see a new venue brought into operation instead.

Non-symptomatic tennis players and their entourages – including coaches, medical specialists and family members – tennis officials and critical workers will be quarantined.

All will undergo regular testing and if a positive case is identified, the person would be moved to a health hotel.

A Westin Hotel spokesperson said the hotel had a “long history of supporting the communities in which we operate”.

“In these unprecedented times, this is more important than ever before and we continue to do everything we can to support our people and communities. The health and wellbeing of our guests, associates and resident/owner community remains our top priority,” she said.