Katoomba Leura Online

The press release newswires are reporting Orient-Express Hotels group has agreed to a sale of the 85 room iconic property for $21m.

It describes the sale figure as 23 times its 2008 earnings, which if you do the maths works out at $32 a night profit if the hotel was 100% occupied. Considering rack rates are circa. $400 a night and up, and even on special rooms are around $200 it seems a pretty modest return, or perhaps costs are too high?

On of the outcomes of the Victorian fires earlier this year was the adoption of a plan to designate local refuges, to be called Neighbourhood Safer Places, where residents could seek emergency shelter should their evacuation be thwarted, or they reconsider their stay and defend decision at the last moment.

The following text and table is from the RFS site, I’m not sure if I’m terribly impressed with the nominated sites.

See the below table for the designated NSP locations in your local government area. These NSP locations have been subject to a validation process and have been deemed acceptable as a place of last resort.

Please note that the NSW Rural Fire Service has not yet received NSP locations for all local government areas of NSW. In addition, some recommended NSP locations will require further investigation to confirm that they are suitable as place of shelter to be used as a place of last resort during a bush fire emergency.

The NSW Rural Fire Service will continue to update the NSP locations as new data is received and validated. You should return to this site regularly for updates on the progress of the NSP program and to find a NSP close to you.