The new husband-and-wife management team at Garrick House Port Douglas are looking to restore the reputation of the prime-situated apartment complex, which was formerly operated under the Latitude 16 umbrella. 

Al and Olivia Spence gained management rights to Garrick House in March and have quickly set to work on a refurbishment program and overhauling the complex’s marketing. 

“We want a robust image for Garricks House,” Al said. 

“It’s a well-known name that has lost a bit of love over the years and we want to help get it back.”

In particular, the Spences are focusing on online travel review aggregators such as Tripadvisor and Expedia. 

The couple have plenty of successful management experience. Already the managers of Villa San Michele, another prime accommodation house in Macrossan Street, this they say has taught them the importance of online reviews,

They know that there is a direct correlation between Tripadvisor rankings and more enquiries. 

“Tripadvisor, Expedia and other sites like it are only becoming more and more important,” Al said. 

“People are looking to travel blogs for reviews and personal experience.

“To really push that positive online feedback we send followup emails with links to the Tripadvisor page, we’re looking to advertise the fact that we want those good reviews, and people will give them if they’re happy with the experience.”

Olivia said the work put in to improving Tripadvisor rankings at Villa San Michele paid off, with that property’s rankings increasing from 16 to a peak of 8. 

“We would have a lot of inhouse customer feedback telling us that they’d found us and made the decisions based off Tripadvisor,” she said. 

“If you’re in the top 20 for a town like this, you’re going to do well out of it.”

In addition to the increased focus on online rankings, the Spences have initiated a broad refurbishment of the complex, including improvements to the grounds and gardens and landscaping, as well as new air conditioners, blinds, appliances and windows for the rooms, with more yet to come. 

Their next stage planned for the refurbishment is the introduction of free Wi-Fi for residents, which they hope to introduce in June or July. 

“Garrick House is a good location, it’s close to Four Mile Beach and Macrossan Street, it’s quiet, with spacious apartments. 

“One of the benefits of us being here as well is that there will  be in-house management when there was none under Latitude 16 - that’s important because Port Douglas is such a ‘return’ town, it’s not just locals that know the story about Latitude 16 but the people that come to holiday, we have people mentioning ‘oh it’s great that there’s in-house management now’.

“As the busy season approaches we’re going to be looking into hiring staff and we’re excited about that.”