MANAGING A HOTEL IN THE DESERT

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 2

MANAGING A HOTEL IN THE DESERT

In New Zealand it is difficult to find and keep hotel staff but imagine how the problem multiplies when the hotel is in the middle of a desert.

Managing staff at Hotel Alice Springs can be quite a headache, according to Miss Bette Smith, the hotel manageress who was in Christchurch yesterday.

People come to Alice Springs readily enough and hotel work is popular. Girls sign on as waitresses or housemaids because the money is good and the staff conditions are good.

The problem is that they really only come to see the place and as soon as they are satisfied that they have seen the sights they want to go home.

Miss Smith said there was a tremendous turn-over of staff but fortunately there were usually people moving into the town who could fill the vacancies.

Male help is even harder to obtain, so few men are employed. Girls act as drink stewards and, of course, as barmaids. Miss Smith prefers to employ girls in the bar—because they are prettier.

Outback Character Tourism was fast becoming a primary industry in Central Australia, Miss Smith said. The outback had a lure of its own. People who came, always came back. They came at first expecting a tin shed in the wilderness, but now tourists and people coming to Alice Springs could “have their cake and eat it.” It had the character and appeal of the outback as well as firstclass accommodation and facilities.

Alice Springs ‘ was called the “Red Heart,” said Miss Smith. It was desert country, harsh and rugged, but it was

magnificently beautiful. Reds, blues and lavenders made up the countryside and the rock formations were splendid.

Miss Smith took her present position quite by chance when a friend left to go overseas. Miss Smith had always been fond of travel and she saw this as a chance to see the centre. But unlike the waitresses she stayed and she says she will never leave. “It has completely captured my heart and my imagination,” said Miss Smith. Convention Hall

The hotel now had international standing. It was a far cry from its humble beginning of 36 years ago when it was just a tin shed and a tent. In those days, access was by camel train but now, with daily flights to Adelaide, the problem of isolation barely existed. Last year a third storey was built to provide a convention hall capable of seating 600. Conventions In Alice Springs would highlight Central Australia, said Miss Smith. The accommodation was being expanded and improved to meet the requirements for large scale conventions. Alice Springs was ideally situated for an allAustralian meeting place.

One of the best loved of the town’s characters is Mr L. J. Underdown, the manager of Hotel Alice Springs, and son of the founder. He is known as Uncle. When he opened his magnificent new bars last year he turned on drinks for the whole town. The article in the local paper about the opening was headed “Uncle’s Plib Opens.” Miss Smith Is in New Zealand on behalf of the Central Australian Tours Association to see if she can “lure” a few New Zealanders into the outback herself.