Apartment owners on the premises of a luxury Melbourne hotel are seeking to quash plans by Australian Open organisers to use the hotel to quarantine players ahead of the Grand Slam.
The apartment owners at the Westin Melbourne are concerned for their health and never agreed to international players quarantining at the hotel, their lawyer Graeme Efron told Reuters on Monday.
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“My instructions are to get an injunction. So at this stage, that’s where we’re going,” Efron said.
Hundreds of players are expected to arrive in Melbourne in mid-January and undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine as part of COVID-19 protocols before the Feb. 8 to Feb. 21 Australian Open.
Efron said the Westin had informed the owners on Christmas Eve about the quarantine plans and presented it as a “done deal.”
“No-one has told us that this has been mandated by a government authority to turn a partly residential city hotel into a quarantined hotel,” he said.
Owners, who include some of the country’s top business people, said they felt “ambushed” by the quarantine plan.
“At 84, I’m in the vulnerable group and it’s shocking the way they tried to ram this through without any attempt to consult with us,” owner Digby Lewis told Fairfax media.
Westin management said their “COVID safe” plan had been shared with the owner’s corporation, adding that residents would use a separate entrance and lifts and have no contact with players and quarantine staff.
“Their floor will remain exclusive, while there will be no reticulation of ventilation between the floors,” the Westin said in a statement.
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