$1400 for balcony access. Only in quarantine!
Several quarantine hotels in Sydney are charging premium rates for fresh air.
Rooms with a balcony will set guests back $1400, a cost that is being described as "cruel and unfair".
Rhada Govil who quarantined at the Meriton Suites on Sussex Street in Sydney in mid-November, told the ABC’s 7.30, "We were told that to have a balcony it would cost us $100 per night, which came to an overall charge of $1,400 for the two weeks."
Ms Govil, who is a lawyer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Switzerland, requested balcony access to better care for their seven-month old baby.
"We didn't really feel as though we had any option but to accept that charge and we were told we'd have to pay that fee on the spot to the hotel, separate to the quarantine fee that we'd later receive down the track."
Ms Govil paid the fee on top of the NSW Government’s $4,000 quarantine fee.
"We would have thought that already paying such a high quarantine fee that access to proper fresh air… would be standard," she said.
Meriton claims its contract with the government is to provide a room, with extras bringing further charges.
When Ms Govil questioned the fee, the hotel provided a $400 discount.
A statement by the hotel to 7.30 read, "This is part of our participation arrangements and is a way of keeping the base room costs down for the NSW Government, which is funded by the NSW taxpayer," the statement said.
Meriton isn’t the only hotel being questioned about its practices.
Eliza Kruger, a quarantine guest at the Radisson Blu hotel was charged an extra $500 for her balcony view.
"They said they're not obliged to give it to anyone, but that I could pay $500 extra," she said.
"I'm lucky to be privileged and that I could afford that.
"I thought it was essential to have access to the fresh air and I couldn't do two weeks locked in a room without that."
Ms Kruger believes access to fresh air should be a minimum quarantine requirement.
"It has to be an absolute basic that you have access to fresh air.
"It's really cruel and unfair that these hotels are charging extra for that on top of everything else."
NSW Police has endorsed the practice, telling 7.30: "When returned travellers are allocated a hotel room, every effort is made by both NSW Police and the individual hotel to accommodate the needs of individuals and their families.
"Occasionally, a family may wish to upgrade their accommodation, and depending on availability, there is the potential for this to occur for an additional cost charged directly by the hotel."
What doesn’t seem to be taken into account in these circumstances is the potential for airborne transmission.
Occupational hygienist Kate Cole told 7.30, "Fresh injection of air into a room is incredibly important to reduce aerosol spread.
"I remain incredibly concerned that we're not putting ventilation really high up on the agenda as one incredibly important control measure to keep people safe and reduce the risk in hotel quarantine."
Ms Cole and 30 other experts and doctors have signed a letter urging the Queensland Government to investigate whether airborne transmission was a factor in the Grand Chancellor outbreak.
The Grand Chancellor made the news recently after six people, including a hotel cleaner and four guests staying on the same floor of the hotel, tested positive to the highly contagious UK strain.
"Aerosols will move wherever the air takes them, so they'll build up inside that room and then they'll move in the direction of the air from the air-conditioning system, or where a door opens and closes and goes into a hallway," Ms Cole said.
Aerosol spread is also being blamed for Adelaide's hotel quarantine outbreak in November.
"Until we recognise the importance of aerosol spread and we don't put control measures in place then we are setting ourselves up for continued failure," Ms Cole said.
"We need to make sure we've increased our standards in hotel quarantine and that's a key way to prevent it coming into our community."
Irit Jackson, 20th January 2021
