It’s hard to imagine that Yallingup’s Cape Lodge was once a little-known bed and breakfast.
It’s hard to imagine that Yallingup’s Cape Lodge was once a little-known bed and breakfast.
During the past 20 years its owners, past and present, have expanded its facilities and embarked on multi-million dollar refurbishments that have placed it within the exclusive Small Luxury Hotels of the World organisation.
Until The Outram Hotel in West Perth opened late last year, Cape Lodge was the only Western Australian operator to be a member of the invite-only organisation, made up of a collection of boutique hotels from across the globe that meet stringent five-star standards.
Cape Lodge secured membership of the organisation in 1997, the same year former senior Macquarie Bank executive Ed Tait quit his Sydney job to help run the hotel with his new wife, Jo, who had bought the business in 1992 before the two had met.
The couple sold Cape Lodge to its current Malaysian-based owners, Seng and Su Ong, in 2001.
The Ongs have added more luxury to the lodge, which is nestled on 10 hectares of land off Caves Road.
Surrounding the lodge is a mixture of forest, lakes, vineyards and a few novel things like a putting green and small croquet course.
Mr and Mrs Ong spent about $6 million between 2003 and 2006 adding eight new luxury suites and a new restaurant, which is open exclusively for the lodge’s guests.
But the luxury upgrade isn’t over yet.
Plans are under way to renovate the lodge’s garden suites, which were built in the mid-1990s.
It is expected that the rooms will be renovated next year at a cost of about $2 million.
Cape Lodge general manager Drew Bernhardt has been taking care of the business’s day-to-day operations for the past four years.
He said Cape Lodge’s occupancy rate remained high, at about 80 per cent, despite the relatively recent additions of new premium offerings in the area such as Moondance Lodge and Chandeliers on Abbey.
Mr Bernhardt said there had been a big increase in the number of international visitors staying at the lodge.
“The amount of international guests has increased by about 20 per cent in the past two years and they now make up about 50 per cent of our business,” Mr Bernhardt told Business Class.
He said the bulk of international guests came from the UK, but the lodge also welcomed travellers from Europe and North America.
Mr Bernhardt said the lodge had invested in big overseas marketing campaigns and put the growing international tourist numbers down to word-of-mouth referrals.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte lists Cape Lodge as his favourite place to take a short break in WA.
It’s also a place the performers at Leeuwin Estate’s annual event stay.
Sting, who performed at the 2005 concert, stayed at the lodge’s cottage.
• The reporter was an overnight guest of Cape Lodge last month.
