The owners of an exclusive guest house on the Sunshine Coast hinterland have offered an insight into what it takes to earn five stars.
The Country House at Hunchy is one of only seven accommodation providers on the Sunshine Coast awarded five stars under Star Ratings Australia.
Husband and wife Paul and Karin Orwin took over the guest retreat after retiring from the Commonwealth public service and child care respectively.
After just four years operating the modern Queenslander style property near Montville, the couple were recently bumped up to Star Ratings Australia’s ‘Gold List’ – considered the best of the best.
Their guest house on 12 acres of rainforest is so exclusive they take a maximum of two couples at one time in the property’s two rooms – the Rainforest and Bottlebrush suites.
Every detail is considered to ensure it meets Star Ratings Australia’s category standards.
Mr Orwin said achieving the top star rating required completing 87 pages which included 200 criteria covering everything from furnishings to towels.
“It enabled us to really examine each area of our business. We could analyse what we do well and how to focus on achieving our goals to deliver exactly what our guests are looking for,” Mr Orwin said.
“It’s a really in-depth assessment, not just a quick look around, covering everything down to bed linen.”
For the record, the Country House uses 1000-thread count sheets and has the best towels money can buy.
Guests are fed homemade meals cooked by Karin in a fulfilment of her lifelong dream from when she was a girl in England to run a bed-and-breakfast.
“We didn’t want cabins where you hand people a hamper and they cook their own barbecue,” Mr Orwin said.
“Karin loves home cooking and this is another attraction of our guest house and our use of local produce.”
Karin’s generous three-course breakfast starts with fruit salad, yoghurt and a smoothie, followed by eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes and topped off with freshly baked croissants and pastries.
For dinner, Karin can prepare a towering seafood platter with crab, bugs, prawns, smoked salmon and oysters for $150.
Or you can select from an a la carte menu featuring slow cooked lamb shanks in red wine and caramelised onion sauce, organic free range chicken breast with honey mustard sauce, roast grass fed beef with Yorkshire puddings and more.
The Orwins are the third owners of the property which was purpose built in 2018. The first owners went bankrupt and the previous owners operated part-time.
“When we took over the place it didn’t have a star-rating and we built it up,” Mr Orwin said.
“We’re very honoured when we look at the standard it takes to be included on the same page. We’re very humbled.
“We stick by traditional bed and breakfast principles: a good bed, good company and simple home cooked food done well. We pinch ourselves when we remember this is only our fourth year in the tourism industry”.
Mr Orwin said the pandemic had been an up-and-down year but since they re-opened in June, bookings had been running hot.
“We are very busy and we haven’t looked back,” he said.
“June and July were our busiest months we’d ever had in four years even though it was only open to Queenslanders.
“Since then we have maintained a lot of bookings.”
The Country House at Hunchy offers a range of couples packages including a weekend Couples Breakout Bundle which includes two nights in the Rainforest suite with spa, three-course breakfast, welcoming wine and chocolates for $820.
