Perth Voice Interactive

“WHINGER”. That’s the word Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi used to describe a tourist who’d complained about a budget hotel with filthy, semen-stained sheets, cockroaches crawling from under the bed cover, and stinking of urine and marijuana.

Ms Scaffidi co-owns the building the notorious backpackers is housed in.

The lord mayor’s description of the tourist was included in Freedom of Information documents the Perth Voice applied for back in April and received over the past three weeks, with the final few arriving just days ago.

The tourist had written to City of Perth officer Cecilia Firth and the lord mayor in July 2011 to alert them to their two “horrifying days” in Perth and a “ruined holiday” topped off by their stay at the Grand Central Hotel backpackers.

“It was a hotel of 3 stars. Clean and highly rated,” the tourist wrote. Paying $72 they went upstairs “only to be totally sickened”.

“The bed had one filthy sheet on it with obvious semen stains, no towels and cockroaches crawling out from under the dirty bed-cover. The place absolutely stunk of urine, marajuana [sic] smoke and god knows what else.

“[I] immediately went downstairs to demand a refund and was told that they did not do refunds!!! That money was important … and it was only after [I] threatened them with calling the Police and reporting them to the department of fair trading and the health department  that they came and threw the money back… and told [me] to Fuck-Off.

“[I] honestly was reduced to tears for the first time… thinking of how filthy dirty the place was and how rudely we were treated.

“This was our first warm welcome into your city of Perth.”

It is clear the tourist has no idea that one of the people they’ve emailed is a co-owner of the building they’re complaining about.

The lord mayor doesn’t disclose it either, but she does email Ms Firth: “I’ll reply to this Cecilia.”

“It sounds like anything I could say would seem unacceptable because it seems every aspect of [your] recent trip was unacceptable,” Ms Scaffidi told the tourist.

“To try +_ explain some of my thoughts from reading [your] email seems irrelevant so all I can say is that I apologise for your unfortunate experiences.

“I do wish [you] well + hope [your] next holiday wherever [you] choose to visit will make up for this one.”

Ms Scaffidi then forwards the complaint to another person—their identity is censored by the council—and says “sounds like a real whinger… you win some / you lose some”.

Unaware of Ms Scaffidi’s “whinger” email the tourist—apparently delighted with the prompt reply from the lord mayor—emails again: “[I] know only too well you are not responsible personally for what [I] encountered; however your departments are and they need to do something about this”.

Ms Scaffidi replies she’d forwarded the complaint to the operator of the property (that would be her own tenant) and tells the tourist you “get what you pay for… in a city (this is not an excuse) that is booming like Perth demand is so high + we are experiencing supply issues.”

Never once disclosing her interest in the property, she adds: ”thanks for saying [you] don’t blame me personally… I know that but it’s nice to hear. Its just how some trips go – I’ve had a couple of those experiences myself!”

by DAVID BELL