CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
FLEUR BAINGER checks in to the first PEPPERS property in WA to find a hotel STRIVING to break WITH TRADITION.
IT MUST BE TOUGH keeping pace with the rule-breaking whippersnappers of the hotel world. They’re shaking things up with funky hangout spaces, desk-free welcomes, designer-partnered ‘uniforms’ and baristas on standby. If you’re into that kind of thing (and I am) then a conventional hotel experience, while altogether satisfactory, becomes a little lacklustre. Perth’s new Peppers Kings Square Hotel – the brand’s entry into Western Australia – teeters between the two. It has some chic touches: blue neon lighting ripples on the 17-storey-high frontage by night (it’s Australia’s tallest prefabricated, modular hotel); the welcome desk is an extension of the espresso-machine-equipped bar; polished concrete columns spear the lobby, with rose gold mesh shades and matching chairs lining the cafe-restaurant. But the hotel sticks with tradition via a 10am check-out and rooms in unadventurous grey tones. Staff, while friendly, are as perfunctory as their uniforms. I park in front – there’s a handy five-minute bay for valet parking – and see luggage carts outside, but no one comes to assist me. At check-in, I’m asked for photo ID to confirm I match the name on the booking, which feels a bit airport. I grab a free newspaper and enter the elevators down a corridor that’s as bland as the entrance is interesting. I’ve booked an Executive Room because they score better views: mine is on the 13th floor – a superstitious number many hotels skip. Handmade chocolates, free bottled water, pod coffee and giant windows that look out to the metropolis greet me. I hit Stage Bar & Kitchen for a decent dinner of international share plates, but wish I’d walked a few streets to sharper venues. The hotel’s biggest asset – location – might be the restaurant’s curse. If I had tickets to see Bruce Springsteen at the new Perth Arena, this is where I’d stay. Ditto, if I was working at the new Kings Square development across the road, shopping at luxury fashion strip, Kings Street, or roaming the shopping malls an easy 600-metre stroll away. It gives the hotel broad suitability. Back in my room, the downsides are minor: no robes, the hairdryer is hidden in the wardrobe instead of the schmick bathroom, and I’m charged $10 for my baby cot, without warning. I read that the free wi-fi is the fastest to be installed in a Perth hotel, and settle in for an iView session. My king-size bed is plumped with shiny new velvet cushions and pudgy stretch pillows. The linen is silky, and I wish I’d slipped under the covers sooner. Indeed, it turns out that it doesn’t really matter how conventional a hotel is when the bed is this good.