Before heading to Western Australia last week, we heard that Aussies take their coffee very seriously. There’s a "cappuccino strip" (or several) of cafes in every major city, and each one of my hotel rooms would have a decent coffeemaker in it. One of them even had a deluxe espresso machine that would make a Starbucks barrista drool. Guess that's why Australians always seem so chipper.

However, the coffeemaker during a recent stay that really won out on the quality-of-coffee versus ease-of-use nexus was the one at The Richardson Hotel and Spa in Perth.
]]> EricRosen 2009-11-16T16:29:28-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/2/24/12521/5880 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/Old_Treasury_Building_perth.jpg" class="top"><p> <p>The Western Australian capital of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/city/Perth"><b>Perth</b></a> has its share of high-end hotels, but nothing that's claimed to be six-star luxury--until now. Well, until soon, because it's just been announced that <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Amanresorts">Aman Resorts</a></b> and friends are in talks to redevelop a key city site into a luxury hotel.<p>The Old Treasury Buildings are an historic part of downtown Perth and they've been empty for more than ten years now while everyone agreed on what should be done--being a heritage-listed site always makes it tricky. Now it looks like a slim tower will be added on to the back of the building and that will become the six-star hotel with up to 90 rooms.<p>The older part of the amandak 2009-02-24T14:46:58-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/10/1/02437/4683 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/sheratonperthsmall.png" class="imgborder"> <p>This isn't quite an <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Overservice">Adventure in Overservice</a>, but more of an Adventure in Awesome Service. <p>Our expectations were set particularly high when we recently found ourselves staying in a newly revamped executive suite at the <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Sheraton+Perth+Hotel/ian/105660">Sheraton Perth</a></b> in Western Australia. <p>After all, a AUD $20 million <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/7/5/231535/3451/hotels/The_Sheraton_Perth_Hotel_Gets_Much_Needed_Renovations">renovation</a> shouldn't just be a step up; it should pay for the whole flight up. <p>In this case, it got us our own elevator banks to the executive level floors -- always a nice touch -- as well as a brand-spankin' new, oversized room with a comfy bed (the kind that invites you to climb in for an illicit mid-day tryst or solo, with a hangover) and ChristineM 2008-10-01T12:58:47-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/6/17/82111/1300

Sometimes it's a mystery about which hotels become most popular in the TripAdvisor rankings, and that's definitely the case when we read that The Outram is the #2 hotel in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

We're not saying the Outram's a bad hotel. But it's kind of out of the way - probably a half-hour walk from downtown Perth, and although it's a short stroll from the lovely Kings Park, it's still the kind of place you'd only stay if you had access to a car--you almost might as well be in suburbia.