Hotels dealt another blow after linen company stops supply

TOURISM

Jeremy Lebeuf

Feature Writer

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Chris Morgan has seen a shortage of supply of linen and towels. Image: Karlie Brady.

Port Douglas hotels have received a major blow with the shock announcement that the South Pacific Laundry (SPL) is currently not supplying linen to the area, in a time when properties are already doing it tough.

In a statement released to their customers, SPL said, “we regret to inform you that our Port (Douglas) Laundry Depot will be temporarily closed from Monday 4 January until further notice.

“We will not be able to supply you with any linen at this time due to drastic shortages in our circulation. We will send out further correspondence in the New Year with a further update.”

With only one other major linen supplier in the area, SPL has put a choke-hold on the many Port Douglas properties that rely on their services and have existing contracts with them.

At an already busy time in the region, on top of the current staffing shortages being experienced by many, some operators are reporting their available employees have been left overworked.

“This is not good enough,” said one Port Douglas hotel.

Newsport contacted a number of Port Douglas hotels and operators affected by the supply stop and can report the sentiment is echoed across the industry, many frustrated and left struggling to find linen anywhere else on short notice.

“SPL ditching Port Douglas businesses and leaving us stranded with linen over the busy holiday period. Many hotels are left without linen and having to wash our own when we are already short-staffed and so busy,” said the local hotel operator.

Chris Morgan owner of Port Douglas Accommodation who uses contract housekeepers said it has created a stressful situation.

“We have contract housekeepers who are small companies, or husband and wife teams that have contracts with SPL and they can’t get linen.

“We all have been having to wash towels and sheets - we have all been completely inconvenienced and shockingly stressed out because of their lack of professionalism and just lack of care for their clients and customers.

“It’s really unfortunate all these people who rely on them [SPL] are being very cautious on what they say and how they say it because they will need the linen when SPL does come back because there is no other option, it’s almost like they have a monopoly,” said Mr Morgan

A spokesperson for South Pacific Laundry said the Port Douglas depot is currently closed due to a shortage of linen that is stuck in WA, they expect it will be shipped over soon.

“There is no time frame as to when the Port depot will be operating, we will be sending out a notification via email when it is operating again.”

Concerns mounted when long time clients of SPL have tried to log into their ordering portal only to be met with a message saying, “Inactive customer – orders cannot be processed”, simply they cannot do anything, leaving them wondering if they have been dropped off the client list.

SPL has managed to deliver linen to some properties.

“Some are getting their orders late, or partial orders, or like us we haven’t received anything since before Christmas,” said another local accommodation operator.

“It just ends up being this incredibly stressed out and difficult trying to get through by the skin of teeth situation and it’s just not on for a large company like SPL to do that in light of what’s going on,” said Mr Morgan.



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