Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island makeover “next level”
Multimillion refurbishment elevates resort to new level of style and sophistication ‘
After its multimillion-dollar refurbishment, Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island is sporting a fresh contemporary look, brand new accommodation offerings, a restaurant and bar, plus a host of onsite activities.
The resort re-opened in Spring 2021 and the resort’s general manager, Michael Armour is proud to deliver, what he describes as “exceptional and memorable guest experiences.”
Known for its idyllic location nestled in nature on 65-acres of beautiful Victorian bushland, Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island has been under Wyndham Destinations management since 2012.
The multi-million refurbishment came as part of a scheduled refresh timed to take place every five to seven years, inspiration for which was focused on complementing the resort’s native Australian landscaped gardens and crushed gravel paths to reflect the striking natural beauty of Phillip Island.
The property re-opened its doors just last October following the completion of a “transformative” $7.5 million refurbishment which at the time provided a significant boost to the local economy with approximately 80 percent of the tradespeople employed either residents of the island or hailing from the surrounding areas.
Finalised right on cue for Victoria’s long-awaited ‘re-opening’ following a grueling series of COVID-induced lockdowns, the two-year-long, refurbishment has seen the renovation of 137 studio, two and three-bedroom villas accommodation and the addition of new Deluxe and Grand villas.
A delighted Mr Armour revealed: “Guests and Club Wyndham members have been thrilled with the transformation. The villas have certainly been elevated to a whole new level of style and sophistication.”
Aspects of the resort’s state-of-the-art design and technology include the installation of new Smart TVs in 170 villas offering in-room entertainment, high-speed NBN internet and smart TV options including Chromecast.
The resort also recently introduced a virtual holiday helper resort app with which guests can access a virtual compendium by scanning a QR code as well as order meals and beverages, request more towels, find out itinerary ideas and much more.
The resort’s restaurant too has undergone a major make over, a sleek fit-out and upgrade for the freshly evolved ‘Flametrees’, coming complete with a new extensive menu to satisfy the most discerning of gastronomic tastes, a wine list brimful of the state’s finest productions, a cocktail bar, and fireside dining offering what Mr Armour describes “enhanced culinary experiences in a relaxed setting.”
Onsite facilities also include a gym, sauna, indoor and outdoor spa, two outdoor swimming pools, a children’s wading pool, electric bikes, games room, three tennis courts, and a children’s playground.
And, as a nod to Phillip Island’s nearby world-famous circuit, Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island has acquired pedal karts and has converted a walking trail into a mini grand prix track.
Accessed by resort guests and members of Club Wyndham South Pacific vacation club, the resort also plays host to an exceptional range of facilities along with conference and events spaces.
The resort’s ongoing focus on sustainability has received a boost too, with workshops on offer where guests can make nesting boxes for native wildlife. New signage educates guests about local flora and fauna, and petrol vans used by staff have now been replaced with electric carts.
In addition to these, the resort has, among many other initiatives, eliminated the majority of plastic and paper collateral with a digital in-room experience, reduced its paper consumption by 81 percent at corporate offices with employees encouraged to go paperless, replaced all plastic biros at resorts and corporate offices with sustainable wheat straw pens, and introduced energy-efficient lighting.
Bulk amenities in 100 percent recycled containers will soon replace small single-use amenity bottles for soap, shampoo, conditioner and so on, in guest rooms and club apartments
As a community-conscious gesture, all furniture replaced during the refurbishment was donated to local and Melbourne charities including The Salvation Army, Phillip Island Community and Learning Centre Inc., Sacred Heart Mission, Vinnies and various other local organisations.
And Accom News asked, what about COVID-19?
Mr Armour told us… An important aspect of any accommodation provider’s operation in today’s environment, is to ensure it keeps all guests’ health and safety uppermost. The Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island has taken the fullest of steps to enhance and improve its overall COVID-19 safety measures, making for a wonderful resort stay while making sure the right social distancing requirements apply.
For guest’s peace of mind, the resort also has body temperature scanners installed throughout common areas to improve COVID-19 safety measures. The state-of-the-art system detects abnormal body temperature using precision integrated Omron instrumentation measuring.
Additionally, the resort has re-worked its hygiene and cleanliness procedures using hospital-grade disinfectants, regularly cleaning high-touch areas, setting out common spaces for social distancing, and making hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes more freely available for guests.
Behind the scenes, housekeeping protocols have been tightened, so staff members are kept in the same pairs throughout the day to minimise contact between different people.
They conduct a visual inspection of resort apartments first, remove all dirty materials including linens and sheets, then work through apartments in zones, changing protective gloves and gear as they go.
Turn Key delivers unusual resort furnishing concept
Turn Key was approached by the Wyndham project management team to assist with the unique requirements of the Ramada Resort by Wyndham Phillip Island refurbishment.
Turn Key has been designing and manufacturing furniture in Australia and overseas for over 25 years, and their experience was required in developing the concept for this busy resort, and to ensure it would be fit-for-use, within budget, and delivered in a fully assembled format. The unusual installation requirements of this busy resort, needed to take into account, not only the resort’s remote location but the placement of the villas, that are spread across a large area.
This project was led by Jamie Glaister the Managing Director of Turn Key Furniture, in collaboration with the senior project management team at Wyndham Resorts. In typical fashion for a project of this nature and size, Turn Key produced a full prototype suite of furniture that was delivered direct to the resort for a short-term trial in a fully refurbished apartment prior to going into production for the project rollout. The completed prototype apartment allowed for the finer details of finishes and dimensions to be tweaked to work perfectly for the resort, and allowed the numerous stakeholders in the area management team at Wyndham to better visualise and approve the overall concept in context prior to rollout to the rest of the resort.
Turn Key successfully manufactured and delivered on time, over 1700 pieces of stylish, comfortable and high quality pieces of furniture for this refurbishment.
Jaime told us: “We used meticulous quality control systems throughout production and prior to packing and dispatch. This ensured that we achieved a seamless and trouble-free installation.
“Turn Key is an ISO9001:2015 certified company. We have developed our own certified Quality Management System for hospitality furniture projects to ensure that quality outcomes are built into every stage of our clients’ projects, large and small
Grantlee Kieza OAM has won three Queensland Media Awards, two Australian Sports Commission Awards and has been a finalist for the Walkley and News Awards and for the Harry Gordon Award for Australian sports journalist of the year. In 2019 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia for his writing. You can find more of his work in our AccomNews & Resort News print magazines.
He has written 22 acclaimed books, including bestsellers Hudson Fysh, The Kelly Hunters, Lawson, Banks, Macquarie, Banjo, Mrs Kelly, Monash, Sons of the Southern Cross and Bert Hinkler.
