Five-star hotel quarantine ‘worse than jail’, say travellers

Returning travellers placed in five-star hotels around the country are complaining of inedible food, laundry charges and a lack of fresh air.

Some of the returning travellers stuck in quarantine hotels across the country have complained that their situation is “worse than jail”.

Nine reporter Sam Cucchiara spoke to some of those unable to leave their hotel rooms for 14 days as part of strict coronavirus containment measures for a segment on Saturday’s A Current Affair.

Australian traveller Nicola was initially excited about spending a fortnight at Sydney’s Intercontinental – but her verdict now? “It’s torture … it’s worse than jail.”

In one video diary, she’s shown complaining that her first food for the day – a pre-packaged frozen meal – had arrived at 3:30pm.

Nicole said her conditions were ‘worse than jail’.

“I’m not sleeping very well, and I’m finding it difficult to exercise in the room,” she said.

Filming outside Melbourne’s lush Crown Promenade hotel, the ACA crew noticed a makeshift sign stuck to the window of one hotel room: “WE NEED FRESH AIR.”

Occupant Ray, a retired Adelaide lawyer who was returning from South America with his wife Jackie, scribbled down his phone number so they could communicate over the phone.

“People think this is great, five-star accommodation – but I think you’re going to have a major mental health problem among the people staying here,” he said. “We can’t even pass the door without security guards charging at us.”

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Retirees Ray and Jackie speak to ACA.

“We are not their guinea pigs, and they need to act now,” his wife said. “We are human beings.”

“My daughter is a nutritionist – we took a photo of the food we are given and she was appalled. This is a rich country, we are not a third world country,” Jackie said.

Ray complained they were being charged $40 to have a bag of laundry washed: “I’m not going to pay them one red cent.”

Ray and Jackie are both diabetics and complain they’re “pumped with sugar and chocolate – breakfast, lunch and dinner”.

One vegan couple were served a meal of fish.

One quarantined vegan couple, Sarah and Matt, complained they were “starving”, having been served a dinner of fish they couldn’t eat.

“Dinner is supposed to be at 6, but I’ve called up at 9 and at 9.30pm had two pears and a bread roll sent up for the both of us,” Sarah said.

Another couple complained the food they were served was “lukewarm” so they thew it out.

Not all feel they’re doing it so tough – one newlywed couple in the Crown Promenade told ACA the food had been “lovely”, they were enjoying the city views and they’d be using the downtime to write their wedding thankyou cards.

Returning travellers’ complaints about being forced into hotel quarantine have been a controversial issue this week. On Thursday, Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon had an awkward on-air encounter on with a woman stuck in quarantine at Brisbane’s Novotel with her two young sons. Sarah Greig accused the show of painting her as a “whinger” after the hosts asked her why she felt like a “prisoner”.

“Look, I was asked to come on air today to speak to you about finding solutions to get us some fresh air. That was what I was coming on air to speak to you about today, not to whinge about any of the things you just said to me,” Ms Greig said.

In the past week, thousands of Australians returning to airports around the country have been transported by police and military to hotels that would be their homes for two weeks during a forced quarantine to contain the spread of coronavirus.

About 20,000 returning travellers are expected to arrive in the next week alone.