Aussie travellers could be forced to foot the bill for their hotel quarantine stays

Australian travellers could be charged for their mandatory quarantine stays as guests continue to moan about their luxury hotels.  

Queensland has pushed to charge for the 14-day lockdown while New South Wales and Victoria are set to continue to spend millions of taxpayer dollars. 

The states are awaiting advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee to determine if travellers should pick up the bill, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. 

Residents have publicly moaned about the food at the luxury hotels. Pictured: A woman the InterContinental in Sydney received a chicken dinner despite being a vegetarian

QLD said it was looking to charge returned travellers while NSW and VIC will continue to foot the quarantine bill with taxpayer dollars. Pictured: The Swissotel in Sydney 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said last week her government was ‘looking in the future’ for returned travellers to pay their own quarantine bills. 

It is believed the states will discuss the issue at a National Cabinet meeting on Friday. 

The New South Wales government has reportedly spent over $16 million housing returned travellers in quarantine accommodation since March 28.

As of June 3 more than 20,700 people had been quarantined at hotels in New South Wales.   

The New South Wales government, which housed over 60 per cent of Australia’s arrivals, intends to invoice other states.   

Victoria said it will cover the cost of its quarantines and is expecting to eventually receive a total of 15,000 returned travellers. 

The state budgeted $30 million, $2000 a person, for the hotel accommodations.   

All states and territories agreed to cover the cost of quarantine accommodation at a national cabinet meeting in March. 

The Northern Territory later forced arrivals to pay for their own accommodation and food, which cost an average of $2500 per room. 

The NSW Government has spent over $16 million housing travellers since March. Pictured: The Radisson Blue Plaza Hotel in Sydney 

 Victoria also budgeted a whopping $30 million towards hotel quarantine accommodation. Pictured: The Four Points Hotel in Brisbane

Guests complained they felt like prisoners with the lack of freedom and inadequate food 

The federal government’s mandatory quarantine for Australian travellers has been highly publicised around the world since early March.

Residents have been placed into luxury hotels across state capitals for two weeks as part of efforts to stop community transmission of COVID-19.

But there has been widespread complaints about the food on offer, lack of freedom and slow service. 

One woman holed up at the Hilton in Sydney described feeling like she was ‘in custody’ during her ‘forced isolation lockdown’.  

Hilton Sydney guests (pictured) described feeling like they were ‘in custody’ 

Pictured: A resident at the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne shared a picture of their ‘dinner for two’ which featured only a salad, fruit, chips and confectionary 

Another Hilton guest complained of the ‘limit of one alcohol order per day, limits per person, mini bar pricing and narrow options’. 

The woman said she had ‘not yet managed to get grocery delivery’ and that the Hilton provided ‘bang average no selection stale food’.     

A guest at the InterContinental Sydney said they were provided with a dinner for four people that only consisted of ‘One bottle of water, one bread roll.

‘Anything else to drink is from the minibar at 5-star hotel prices. No takeaway or delivery allowed.’ 

Another picture shared from the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne showed a ‘dinner for two’ with only fruit, salad, one packet of chips, a chocolate bar and one water bottle.

The poster noted they were allergic to apples and labelled the meal ‘a disgrace’.  

Pictured: A meal for four guests at InterContinental Sydney