SYDNEY’S FOUR SEASONS SAVES THE DAY FOR GLOBAL EXPLORERS

Remember the sad story of “no room at the inn” in Sydney for two amazing global adventurers, Rob Gauntlett and James Hooper who have sailed, cycled and skied from the North Pole to the South Pole – well Stephen Lewis, Daniel Simon and Sally McCann at Sydney’s Four Seasons were clearly not going to let that happen.

Rob and James arrived in Sydney on Friday May 9 at the Heads, to be greeted by a heap of media and supporters on board the Simply Magistic, kindly donated for the morning by Sudier Warrier and the wonderful Olivia from Cruising Restaurants and the Tribal Warrior performing a welcome to Australia and Sydney smoking Ceremony.

[Pictured: the arrival by Chris Gleisner]

The Blizzard, the yacht they had traveled on and crewed from Punta Arenas in Chile to the Kergulan Islands, the South Magnetic Pole and on to Sydney was escorted to the National Maritime Museum by the Simply Magistic and Tribal Warrior for a massive welcome reception, with politicians including NSW Minster for Tourism Matt Brown and British Consul General Paul Noon, dignitaries and industry leaders etc, etc, [Pictured below by Chris Gleisner] at the culmination
of the mammoth 22,000 mile journey from the North Magnetic Pole to the South

Magnetic Pole…………under manpower only, Rob and James having skied, sailed and cycled half way around the globe to achieve three core goals; to break an exploring record, to raise money for charity and most importantly to highlight the negative effect of carbon emissions on our environment…………..and
they are only 20 years old!

With the travel industry’s leading PR specialists, Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan MD and Paul Redfern of Five Star PR and Mike Parker-Brown helping to create a fitting welcome to the world’s favourite city, the boys were officially welcomed to Sydney and Australia by an aboriginal welcome and then by Matt Brown and Paul Noon, with masses of TV, radio on line and print media, including UK media attending as their journey was massive news in the UK.

Have a look at the boys’ award winning website http://www.180degrees.co.uk/ – over 8 million hits!

Now, as I explained previously, while they had some sponsorship, please check out the web site, they also funded the journey themselves, acquiring significant debt, but there was no planned welcome for them in Sydney and no accommodation, so when John Alwyn-Jones contacted the Sydney hotel industry to secure accommodation for the boys during their stay in Sydney he drew a blank, with hotels saying that they were very busy, they don’t have rooms – yet wotif showed they did and a number saying we can’t give you a room, but can offer you special deal of $190 a night – also saying that they didn’t see the value or what’s in it for them…..basically every excuse you can imagine! 

A very sad reflection indeed that there did not appear to be a hotel in Sydney, willing to put its hands in its pocket to offer these two young guys and their crew…….who had travelled 22,000 miles under their own power to get here………with accommodation for a week – maybe it had become just too easy to make money – perish the thought, but hard times will come again!

But, the good news is that the moment Stephen Lewis and his outstanding team at the Four Seasons, [pictured left behind the Sydney Opera House] which John had not initially approached, heard about Rob and James’ plight, Sally McCann was immediately on the phone saying “Look no further, The Four Seasons will be delighted to host Rob and James for the week and also to make sure they have a fabulous time in Sydney we will give them a Harbour View Suite!”

And, not only that The Four Seasons also gave the Blizzard crew members a Harbour View Suite and a heavily discounted rate for Rob’s Mum and Dad and other family members who had come to Sydney to see the boys arrival.

Well done The Four Seasons Sydney – a tremendous global accolade for your hotel and team led by Stephen Lewis.

These two young guys had proved that the “impossible is nothing or “nothing is impossible”….and now so did The Four Seasons Sydney, showing their colleagues in other hotels a clean pair of heels in understanding when outstanding philanthropic marketing opportunities come along!

In addition VISA gave the boys [Pictured right by Chris Gleisner] $1,000 each for their time in Sydney, Magisitic gave the Simply Magistic to meet them at the Heads, Land Rover gave vehicles, Global Marine Travel gave flights back to the UK, the Maritime Museum gave the venue for the welcome, Fat Free Fones gave them mobile phones to use in Sydney and last but not least at all, the wonderful Jackie Lehman at J&J O’Brien’s gave the boys vouchers for food at J&J O’Brien pubs and restaurants, including the Watershed.

So, a great time was had by all and lack of the accommodation situation rescued at the last minute due to the generous intervention of The Four Seasons. 

Rob and James have left Sydney as devotees of this great city and Australia and the comments when they stood at the ceiling to floor windows of their suite in the Four Seasons, with the harbour spread out before them, said it all – f*****g awesome!

 by The Mole.