For some, swimming with the sharks and deadly stingrays
just doesn't offer enough risk. For these travelers,
their idea of risk is whether the house is holding
a winner. At one point not so long ago, Australia
was a vacation haven for those looking for an exciting
experience filled with scenic views and natural beauty.
But recently, Australia has become noticed for its
world-class hotels and casinos. With the natural allure
of Australia's wonders combined with five-star hotel
casino accommodations, Australia makes the ideal vacation
hotspot for vacationers looking for a wider variety
of memorable experiences.
The
only problem you'll have now, is deciding which of
the stunning casinos to call home while you're Down
Under. Thanks to the Internet, you can easily search
and compare the rates and amenities at the various
casinos, while booking a cheap flight to Australia
at the same time. Plenty of deals can be found if
you just look for them online. One tip for planning
your trip - try to book a flight departing in the
middle of the week. You can save a bundle on both
your airfare and your hotel rates simply by traveling
on mid-week days, and if you're planning an Australia
casino vacation, then that money will surely come
in handy later on.
The
Casino in Your Australia Casino Vacation
With
hotel casinos in nearly every region of Australia,
you'll want to know what the area has to offer along
with your luxurious accommodations. Some casinos may
be within walking distance of a famous golf course,
while others may be a stone's throw from one of the
world-renowned Australia beaches. Here are five Australia
casinos to consider for your next visit Down Under.
*
Country Club Casino - Located within the lush rolling
hills of Launceston in Northern Tasmania, the Country
Club Casino features expansive grounds that include
an 18-hole golf course. With 88 rooms and 16 suites,
the Club offers visitors an exclusive atmosphere that
larger hotels lack. Rates start at $165 USD per night.
*
Conrad Jupiters Hotel - In the heart of Queensland's
famous Gold Coast lays the Conrad Jupiters Hotel.
This five-star hotel casino provides every amenity
a visitor would need to ensure their stay is exceptional.
With a host of first-class restaurants, and a huge
selection of nearby activities including theme parks,
shopping, nightlife and golf, the visitor can get
a real understanding of why this region is called
the "Gold" Coast. The Conrad Jupiters has
594 rooms and 29 luxury suites. Rates start at $158
USD per night.
*
SkyCity - A beachside resort situated right next to
Mindil Beach in Darwin, SkyCity is set on 18 acres
of prime Australian real estate. Enjoy playing in
the huge casino and then stroll the grounds for a
glimpse of the indigenous plants and animals that
make SkyCity their home. With three award-winning
restaurants on the premises, you know you'll always
be enjoying the very best cuisine around. Rates start
at $144 USD per night.
*
Crown Promenade Hotel - One of Melbourne's highest
regarded hotels, the Crown Promenade Hotel is like
walking into a stream of fresh air. With a bright
and airy atmosphere, the glass walls offer a panoramic
view of the marvelous city or harbor. Melbourne is
one of the most action-packed cities in Australia,
and during your stay at the Crown Promenade, you'll
be right in the middle of it all. Rates start at $170
USD per night.
*
Star City Hotel Casino - Star City Hotel Casino overlooks
the colorful Sydney Harbor and it's the only casino
in the New South Wales region. An all-round entertainment
center in itself, the Star City Hotel Casino offers
nightly live music and performances designed to make
your stay at the luxury hotel a memorable and exciting
one. Rates start at $210 USD per night for this Sydney,
Australia getaway.
An
Australia Casino Vacation to Remember
Imagine
coming back to your hotel room after a day spent diving
the Great Barrier Reef, walking among world-famous
art galleries or driving your Australia rental car
to investigate the mysteries of the Aborigines. Enjoy
an incredible five-star dinner then spend the evening
trying your luck at the casino. Is there any better
sounding vacation? With so much to see and do Down
Under, choosing an Australia casino vacation is like
winning a high stakes game of poker - it's exhilarating!
Australian
Casino Hotels
Taking a vacation is often one of the most exciting
things you will do in any given year. A vacation to
beautiful Australia can make for wonderful memories
that will last your entire life. If you want to stay
where you play, then you’re in luck, because
just about all of Australia’s casinos offer
hotels for your Australia casino vacations!
Do
It All in Australia Casino Hotels
If
you can’t decide which Australian casino hotel
will be best for you, check out as many as you want
by taking a tour of Australian casino hotels. These
tours often offer special rates, especially for the
times of year when school is out and people are able
to travel. And of course, deals are even better when
you book far in advance.
Where
Are the Australia Casino Hotels?
Australia
is divided into provinces, with at least one casino
hotel found in the major cities of the province, like
Sydney, Australia.
The
largest Australian casino hotel can be found in Melbourne,
at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex. The
complex holds two hotels, in addition to the casino,
as well as several nightclubs and restaurants, making
it popular with a younger crowd. It is located off
the river, making it a beautiful location.
Australian
casino hotels can also be family friendly, like the
Lasseters Hotel Casino of Alice Springs in the Northern
Territory, which offers a pool as well as a children’s
menu in one of its three restaurants. It also has
a variety of rooms and suites, large enough to accommodate
a family.
Other
than the excitement of the game tables, Australian
casino hotels also offer other entertainment, like
Conrad Jupiters Hotel of the Gold Coast. Conrad Jupiters
is located in the middle of activities varying from
golf to theme parks to nightlife.
Australia
travel might take you to the capital city, Canberra,
where the casino is small and does not have its own
hotel, but you can arrange to stay in nearby hotels
as part of a package the casino offers for your Australia
travel.
Australia
Casino Hotels: Just So You Know
If
you have a favorite game or machine, it is a wise
idea to check with the Australian casino hotel beforehand
to make sure they have it. Most casinos offer all
the classic table games as well as machines and some
even offer new games.
Any
cheap flight to Australia will allow a traveler to
stay at a number of casino hotels. All of these offer
many of the same amenities as traditional hotels,
with the added bonus of the casino, for those who
love to gamble while on vacation!
Australian
Casino Vacations
Brilliant turquoise oceans, massive mountain ranges,
leaping kangaroos and cuddly koalas are usually the
first things that come to mind when one thinks about
Australia. But the land down under has been gaining
notoriety lately for being a great gambling hotspot,
thanks in part to its luxurious casino hotels.
With
casinos located in each of the continent's eight provinces,
planning an Australia casino vacation is easier than
ever. The only problem is determining which one of
the beautiful Australia casino hotels you want to
visit.
Planning
an Australia Casino Vacation - The Casinos
An
Australia casino vacation might see you visiting the
Sofitel Reef Casino in Cairns, which is regarded as
the finest boutique casino in Australia. Thanks to
its unique dome construction, each of the 128 rooms
offers guests breathtaking views of the city. The
high-class nature of the five-star hotel and casino
means that there is a (not overly strict) dress code
to be followed on the casino game floor. The hotel
has a Rainforest Dome, where many of Australia's indigenous
animals can roam freely within the environment. Guests
can even get up close and personal with them. Plus,
the hotel has a boutique of fine shops where guests
can shop till they drop and a terminal where you can
leave to take day trips to the Great Barrier Reef
and other attractions. Book a cheap flight to Australia,
and get ready to place your bets.
The
city of Darwin is home to the SkyCity hotel casino.
This five-star boutique hotel offers the guest a luxurious
and relaxing visit with all the amenities one expects
from an AHA Award-winning hotel. With 117 lushly appointed
rooms available in four different styles, SkyCity
has accommodations suitable for every guest. You can
also choose from an eclectic ensemble of dining choices,
from the fine dining of Evoo and Dragon Court to the
buffet-style fare at the Sunset Restaurant. The casino
at SkyCity is a cohesive mix of traditional favorites
and newer, progressive games where payouts are large
and frequent.
The
Wrest Point Hotel Casino in Hobart, Tasmania is Australia's
original casino hotel, opened in 1973. Located on
the gorgeous Derwent River, the Wrest Point Hotel
Casino has 269 luxuriously appointed rooms that offer
spectacular views of the river or the magnificent
Mount Wellington. The hotel offers five dining establishments,
including the romantic, visually stunning Point Revolving
Restaurant where you get a bird's eye view of the
surroundings while enjoying fine Australian cuisine.
The casino game floor is home to some of the latest
video gambling games and countless traditional table
games and slots.
Star
City Hotel and Casino, located on the Darling Harbor
in Sydney, Australia, is one of the largest hotel
casinos in the country. With 351 hotel rooms and 131
privately owned apartments, this is casino living
on a massive scale! The complex is so large, that
there are two gaming floors, seven restaurants and
eight bars. There are also two theaters on the premises,
the Lyric theatre and the Star Theatre. An ultimate
entertainment center, the Star City always has something
going on and for a moment, you may even forget that
you're on an Australia casino vacation!
How
to Get a Great Deal on an Australia Casino Vacation
Most
Australia casinos offer package deals which include
accommodations, restaurant vouchers and sometimes
even tickets to a show or one of the nearby attractions.
Before booking your Australia casino vacation, use
the Internet to ensure that you're getting the best
travel deal possible.
It
was a sure bet that gambling in the skies would be
the next seat-side diversion in airline cabins, and
now it is happening -- with computerized gambling
scheduled to begin aboard Swissair's 16 MD-11's and
5 Boeing 747's by November. Two small carriers are
also going for gambling: Debonair Airways, a London-based
start-up carrier that wants its BA-146's to be "the
Southwest Airlines of Europe," and Oasis International
Airlines, a Madrid charter company that flies Airbus
310's to the Caribbean, South America and the Far
East.
Naturally,
it took a company based in Las Vegas, Nev., Interactive
Flight Technologies Inc., to get in-flight gambling
up and running. It has simply adapted what's already
on the Strip, Fortunet's digitized games, to the confines
of airline cabins. Thanks to digital technology, which
eliminates tapes, the I.F.T. system also features
video-on-demand with up to 60 selections, depending
how many rental fees an airline wants to pay.
With
I.F.T.'s touch-screen video, passengers will be able
to play the slots, poker, blackjack, lotto, keno or
bingo after one swipe of a credit card. There is a
limit of $350, set by Visa and other card issuers,
that a passenger can bet or lose, but winnings have
no cap. What a gambler wins -- or loses -- shows up
as charge card credits or debits.
The
casino's earnings? In Swissair's case the earnings
from bingo, keno and lotto -- the games it will offer
passengers -- will go to the Swiss national lottery,
which supports charities and cultural organizations.
High-flying
gambling isn't as new as you might think. In the mid-1980's,
for instance, there were chartered gambling flights
between Melbourne, Australia, and Hobart, Tasmania's
capital. These days you can play bingo on some flights
operated by Colombia's Avianca. And Virgin Atlantic
offers Nintendo betting games, but, as a spokesman,
Richard d'Ambrosia emphasized, "for points, not
money."
Initially,
the new casinos aloft will be limited to foreign airlines.
The Department of Transportation prohibits gambling
on United States carriers, despite the boom in legalized
gambling in many states. The department carries the
fine print to the point where American carriers can't
even allow gambling on international routes. It can
also prevent a foreign carrier like Swissair from
landing at United States airports if there's gambling
on its trans-Atlantic flights.
"European
and Asian airlines are excited about getting into
gaming," said Steve Fieldman, I.F.T.'s vice president
for business development. "Once those fastidious
Swiss engineers have checked out our system, you don't
need anymore due diligence."
Why
is Oasis one of the pioneers? "After the Chinese,"
Mr. Fieldman said, "the Spanish are the biggest
gamblers in Las Vegas."
The
New Gnomes of Zurich
"The
Swiss franc is killing us," said J. Philippe
Jaussi, who was in New York last week to drum up business
for his Hotel zum Storchen in Zurich. At the current
exchange rate a room overlooking the Limmat River
costs at least $260 a night. "Corporate travelers
are so watchful about their expense accounts these
days," Mr. Jaussi said. "They cover Zurich
and Geneva in the same day just to save on hotel bills.
Or they stay in Lucerne, where it's cheaper."
Does
anybody visit Zurich just for pleasure? "They're
not just looking at the Chagalls and Miros in the
Kronenhalle Restaurant," he said, smiling. "They're
all looking over their bank accounts or seeing their
insurance companies. But it's a beautiful season now
-- with the first white asparagus from Cavaillon in
the Rhone Valley. It's on every Zurich menu."
Mr.
Jaussi's 600-year-old building, originally a guild
house, is rapidly adapting to the 1990's. "People
are living on efficient time," he said. "So
every room now has a plug for a modem. When a Westinghouse
team stayed for four weeks, we installed an on-line
computer system. They were always in touch with home
base."
"You
can call an AT&T number without a surcharge from
the Storchen," he added. "Some hotels block
wireless phones -- you can do that, you know. We don't.
We discourage people from using cellulars in our dining
room. But we don't mind if they're outside in the
square phoning to get their call through."
Commuting
Around China
"An
hour into a three-hour flight I was taking in China
in the early 1980's, the plane unexpectedly landed,"
recalled Milton Forman, president of Toltec Fabrics
Inc. "The cabin attendant said it was lunchtime."
It's
not that lax anymore. Although Air China's reservation
computers still don't get things right every time,
the Government carrier's 747's on the Shanghai-Beijing
run, packed with business travelers, generally leave
on time. And China's domestic air service is far safer
than it used to be.
"I've
taken four flights on China Northern this year, and
they've all been good," said James L. Le Pere,
a McDonnell Douglas executive, in Beijing's airport
on his way home. "The six new regional carriers
really compete with each other. One airline refused
to buy a jet at the price negotiated by the Government
-- it said it could do better."
But
even with these capitalist improvements, there's still
that sign in one of the Shanghai airport's waiting
rooms: "Exit for Canceled Flights."
