Airport Apartments by Aurum staff Nicola Murphy, Nick Alsford and Michael Kar.
Camera IconAirport Apartments by Aurum staff Nicola Murphy, Nick Alsford and Michael Kar. Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson

Belmont and Western Australian Business Awards: dedication to service lands Aiport Apartments by Aurum major award

Sophie MooreSouthern Gazette

SERVICE is the underlying principle behind the 23rd Belmont and Western Australian new business of the year award winner Airport Apartments by Aurum.

“I’m paranoid about it,” eneral manager Michael Kar said.

The Redcliffe short stay apartments opened in March 2013 and since then have won accolades including TripAdvisor’s 2016 Certificate of Excellence.

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According to Mr Kar it was a guest and not hotel staff who nominated the short stay apartments for the 23rd Belmont and Western Australian Business Awards.

“Every morning when I wake up – my father used to pray – but when I wake up the first thing I do is check Survey Monkey,” Mr Kar said.

“But really, it is important to see what our guests thought of their stay, our guests are people not statistics.”

He is critical of the approach many Australian businesses take towards their clients, particularly those from Asia.

“Nationally and even at government level we do not understand the culture of our Asian trading partners,” he said.

Owned by a local family, who have lived in the area for 25 years, the apartments tend to attract people working in middle management who need to be close to the CBD and the domestic and international airports.

“Surprisingly we also have a lot of families as guests. They arrive in Perth and want to rest before catching their flight or driving home,” Mr Kar said.

On being awarded best new business, Mr Kar said he felt incredibly humbled and credited his “fantastic” operation manager Nicole Murphy and staff.

“Giving and caring is a two way street, if I care for my staff they’ll give their best,” he said.