The best little EXOTIC HOTEL

Michele checks in, then checks out her fellow guests who all come with a fantastical story

- MICHÈLE A'COURT

One of the joys of hotels is that everyone is from somewhere else. If you are hanging out in the lobby or by the pool, the people you see aren’t divided into visitors and locals. No one really lives here, so everyone belongs to the same degree. We’re all on the same level and I like that.

One of the less joyous things about hotels is that when you arrive, your room is almost never ready.

Recently, I flew across the Tasman to work on the Gold Coast. Up before dawn for a three-hour flight, which landed – local time – about the same time it took off. Meaning an early morning and several hours before my room would be ready.

No matter – it was the Gold Coast, so hanging about in the sunshine made a welcome change from the endless rain at home. Plus, that whole thing of everyone being from somewhere else makes it fun to people-watch, and build stories about your fellow hotel citizens.