Coronavirus: Adelaide Oval Hotel’s timing borders on perfection

The $42m Oval Hotel, a 138-room premium property that curves elegantly around the Adelaide Oval’s eastern facade, officially welcomes its first guests on Friday.

Waitress Emma Bromley at the new Oval Hotel in Adelaide, which is opening its doors to its first guests on Friday. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

Opening a new hotel when a global pandemic has stopped domestic and international travel in its tracks could be viewed as unwise.

But when the address is the hallowed turf of Adelaide Oval and the doors open only a day after flights resume between Sydney and the South Australian capital, it may be a case of “build it and they will come”.

The $42m Oval Hotel, a 138-room premium property that curves elegantly around the stadium’s eastern facade, officially welcomes its first guests on Friday.

It’s a full house, according to Adam Vonthethoff, general manager of hospitality and portfolio development at the hotel, who said overwhelming demand for rooms by locals showed how South Australians had embraced the 3½-year project at their ­beloved oval.

“I could have filled (the hotel) three times over this weekend,” he said.

With Adelaide’s first hosting of a State of Origin match coming up on November 4, and a season of summer cricket soon to be ­announced, Oval Hotel should be perfectly positioned to tap pent-up demand from NSW travellers unable to fly north to Queensland or to Western Australia.

NSW is vital to SA’s tourism ­industry, with visitors from the state splashing out more than $779m over the border each year, second only to Victorians’ $1bn spend.

Travellers have snapped up a raft of airfares released by Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar after Premier Steven Marshall announced the border would reopen. Local tourism operators have reported a surge in interest, and the SA Tourism Commission website reported a 128 per cent jump in searches week on week.

“It’s fantastic to have our borders back open to NSW so we can welcome more interstate tourists and show what South Australia has to offer,” Mr Marshall said.

Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex echoed the sentiment. “The return of interstate travel is going to be a major shot in the arm for our tourism sector,” he said.

Jim Carreker, co-owner of luxury lodge The Louise in the Barossa Valley, was happy to report he had been hit by a “tsunami” of reservation inquiries.

 

“Within the first 48 hours of the news that the NSW border to SA would open this week, our email and phones have been truly swamped with callers from NSW,” Mr Carreker said.

He said SA’s wine, outback and wildlife experiences — “what I call the WOW factor” — meant the state would appeal to visitors “not only in the next few weeks while there is an arbitrary difference in policies about border crossing ­between differing states, but will remain a compelling reason for visitation to SA ongoing”.

Peter Egglestone, chief commercial officer for Journey ­Beyond, which has operations across the country including the Adelaide to Darwin Ghan railway and Outback Spirit tours in SA, said NSW residents represented a large proportion of its guests.

He was expecting a spike in bookings from the NSW market in the coming weeks, but the company faced “many obstacles” because of uncertainty about border closures in Queensland and WA.

“We need certainty that domestic travel is accessible so that Australians can recommence making travel plans,” he said.