Australasian biker news
`Sex, drugs, sackings at Observation
City: Staff orgies in vacant rooms
By TREVOR PADDENBURG
09apr06
MANAGERS and staff at a swanky,
five-star Perth hotel have been sacked amid allegations that some secretly
used hotel rooms for drug-fuelled sex romps with prostitutes.
More than a dozen employees from
Scarborough's Rendezvous Observation City Hotel – including the hotel's
entire security team – were given their marching orders this week.
Other senior hotel staff, including a duty manager, a bar manager,
front-desk and house-keeping staff were also sacked for their involvement in
the scandal.
The security guards were hired through
a Perth security firm which police say has links to the Coffin Cheaters
outlaw motorcycle gang.
Rendezvous Hotels chief executive Alan
Featherby, speaking from China, told The Sunday Times that the mass sacking
was necessary to lift slipping standards at the hotel.
"Some of the people we found to be
unsuitable. We weren't happy with the standards and we needed to replace
some employees," Mr Featherby said.
Scarborough Acting Sen-Sgt Paddy
Madaffari said police had been called to prevent violence erupting when the
staff were sacked.
Police also searched guests' rooms and
offices at the hotel after a tip-off about drug use.
No charges were laid, but one sacked
security guard was given a move-on notice and it is understood police found
drug paraphernalia.
One sacked employee, who worked at the
Scarborough hotel for more than six months, told The Sunday Times that
vacant rooms with ocean views and private balconies were secretly used for
wild staff parties.
She said on some occasions staff and
their friends used cocaine and amphetamines and called in prostitutes for
drug-fuelled orgies.
"They would absolutely run amok," said
the employee, who would not be named for fear of retribution.
"They'd get a free room, get their
friends over and bring in drugs, drinks, prostitutes – you name it.
"It was full-on. All that stuff used
to go on. They had free access (to rooms) and it was happening pretty
regularly.
"I've worked in hotels for five years
and I've never seen anything like it."
Another employee at the hotel, who
also refused to be named, said management was "trying to keep everything
hush- hush".
"Security were the guilty ones and it
looks like the others got sacked because they were friendly with security,"
she said.
Sen-Sgt Madaffari said police did not
have any evidence of drug use or secret sex romps in hotel rooms.
"But that's not to say it's not
occurring," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised, given their links with outlaw
motorcycle gangs.
"Drug use and prostitution are
certainly two areas outlaw motorcycle gangs are involved in."
Rendezvous Observation City Hotel has
been a favourite venue among A-list celebrities and sporting identities
visiting WA.
A night in one of the hotel's deluxe
ocean-view rooms normally costs $177, while standard rooms are $140.
The hotel's website promises guests a
five-star stay in "luxury, style and comfort".
The hotel boasts "luxuriously
appointed deluxe rooms, with fresh ocean air, miles of white sandy beaches
and glorious sea views . . . all to be enjoyed uninterrupted from the
privacy of your own balcony".
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