The re-birth of a Brisbane legend
It seems that every Holiday Inn that old
rocker Keith Moon stayed in had the TV
deposited into the swimming pool, while
the less said about Michael Hutchence’s
demise in the Double Bay Ritz Carlton
the better.
But often it’s underhand clandestine
deals that take place in hotels because
of their perceived privacy. Spies pass
secret information and bent cops
receive brown paper bags stuffed with
notes.
Brisbane’s first ever international hotel
– the Crest International, with stress
on the International – will be forever
touched just about every part of the
Joh Bjelke-Petersen government and
portrayed politics as being even sleazier
than most people had already thought
it was.
However, on the other side of the coin, it
highlighted that the Crest was the hotel
for meetings if you had an important
deal to broker.
When the hotel opened in 1971, the
owners placed ads in papers across the
country proudly proclaiming that “Gone
are the days when a stopover in Brisbane
was an effort. Because now you can
revel in exciting luxury at Brisbane’s only
international hotel.”
They
were
effectively
declaring:
“Brisbane is no longer a hick town”,
though at $12.50 for up to three people
staying in the same room, it appeared
to be country-style pricing compared to
Sydney and Melbourne. However $12.50
then that equates to below $150 in
today’s currency, though that wouldn’t
be enough to get you a room at the
hotel in its current guise as the Pullman.
The Crest became the home for
international sporting teams, celebrities,
visiting heads of government, leading
businessmen – and the occasional crook.
In the lead-up to Brisbane hosting the
Commonwealth Games in 1982, the hotel
added a second tower and a massive
conference centre, and in the process
changed its name to the Mayfair Crest.
Jeff Porter started work at the Crest
back in 1973, and still works there
today. Being a bit of a history buff, he’s
collected photos and other memorabilia
chronicling the hotel’s – and Brisbane’s
– development from what was basically
a ‘large country town’ to the very
sophisticated city it is today.
Brisbane came of age when
its first international hotel –
The Crest – opened in 1971.
Now it is about to get a new
name and a totally new look,
but its colourful history will
never be forgotten
If only the walls of hotels could talk,
there would be enough material to keep
a whole television channel covered 24/7.
Hotels like the sadly-departed Sebel
Townhouse in Sydney’s Potts Point
played host to just about every rock-nroll star who survived the 1970s and 80s,
even if they can’t remember those days.
Elton John had his wedding reception
there...something he almost definitely
can’t or doesn’t want to remember.
remembered as the place where corrupt
Queensland police chief, Terence
Lewis used to meet with his bagman
Jack Herbert and gaming figure, Jack
Rooklyn, who would hand over brown
paper envelopes containing up to
$25,000 to have the police protect his
interests.
The sordid details came out in the 1987
Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption, which
“The 80s was an exciting time for the
hotel and the city,” he recalls. “At the
time Brisbane didn’t have a convention
centre, so the hotel would host many
large and varied events – everything
from Shetland Pony races to cattle & car
displays.
“The hotel was a very popular venue for
socialising. It was nothing to go through
90 kegs of beer a week. On the day we
won the Americas Cup, we sold a whole
pallet of champagne in the bars.”
At the time, the bars boasted a distinctly
American wild west theme, though no
Pullman Brisbane King George Square - Lobby Design
Artist Impression Only
one is quite sure why. General Jacksons
was the hottest bar and nightclub in
town, and that had nothing to do with
the heat. The partying reflected the
city’s new-found ‘fun’ status, with excess
leading seamlessly into Expo 88, which
most people consider was the year
that Brisbane came of age as a truly
cosmopolitan city.
Not that the decade was without
incident. There were power disruptions
which saw the Crest install two huge
generators to operate the hotel’s lifts
and other essential services, and the
hotel even managed to get around the
potentially devastating beer strike that
heralded the start of the 1980s, when
Fourex workers went on strike. At the
time they had the lion’s share of the
Brisbane beer market, so a thirsty city
desperately sought reinforcements from
the south, with the Crest being highly
successful in acquiring the rare pale
gold beverage.
“The beer strike resulted in us buying
beer from anywhere we could,” recalls
Jeff Porter. “There was no way we were
going to be a pub with no beer.”
Expo 88 had seen many new hotels
added to Brisbane and in the 1990s,
the Crest’s fortunes waned. The hotel
was bought by Carlton International,
renovated and named Carlton Crest
Hotel, though the number of bars was
reduced in line with trends.
More recently Mirvac purchased the
hotel and created a Sebel tower along
with a Citigate hotel in the same
complex, though these names have
recently been replaced by two Accor
brands – Pullman and Mercure.
The hotel is also taking on a dramatic
new look, with the exterior above the
hotel’s entry painted a striking dark
grey, while rooms have been upgraded
in the Sebel wing to Pullman’s 5-star
standards.
And, apparently, that’s just the start.
There will be a very contemporary new
lobby created by the end of the year,
with a new Pullman business lounge.
The convention centre – the largest
amongst Brisbane’s hotels – will get a
total makeover, though whether it will
ever host Shetland pony races again
is unlikely, according to hotel general
manager, Grant Parnell.
Clutching a model of a Pullman train
carriage to his chest and showing me
plans for the new lobby, you can feel the
energy and pride that Parnell has in his
new baby.
“Everyone in Brisbane knows the Crest
– it has so many stories attached to it
– so it is very fulfilling to know that we
are going to bring it back to its previous
glory,” he said.
“It is a symbol of the health of Brisbane’s
hotel and tourism scene, and by the
time we finish in February next year I
can confidently say that the Pullman will
be one of the city’s most stylish ‘new’
hotels. It’s all part of that Crest tradition.”
pullmanhotels.com
The re-birth of a Brisbane legend
Left:
Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Room
Right:
Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Conference Room Design
Artist Impression Only
Bottom Left:
Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Executive Lounge Design
Artist Impression Only
Bottom Right:
Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Room
pullmanhotels.com