These terms are a starting point prepared for the 2026 campaign. Have them reviewed by your lawyer before launch, particularly the competition clauses, which are regulated differently in each state.
1. About these terms
These terms govern your use of best50.retromotels.com (the “site”) and your participation in The Best 50 Motels in Australia (the “campaign”), run by Retro Motels Pty Ltd (ABN to be inserted) (“we”, “us”).
By nominating a property, casting a vote, entering the giveaway or joining the waitlist, you agree to these terms.
2. Nominations
- Nominations are free. There is no entry fee at any stage, and no payment can secure or improve a place on the list.
- Anyone may nominate a property, including its owner or operator. Self-nominations carry no advantage and no penalty.
- We check every nomination against the published eligibility criteria. Nominating a property does not guarantee it will be shortlisted or included.
- Nominations that are abusive, defamatory, or clearly vexatious will be discarded.
- By nominating, you confirm the information you provide is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
3. Judging and the final list
- The final 50 and all category winners are decided by an independent judging panel applying the published criteria.
- Retro Motels membership is not a criterion for inclusion and confers no advantage. Members appearing on the list do so on merit alone, and the number of member properties on the list is published with it.
- The panel’s decision is final. We will answer a reasonable written request from an operator about how their property was assessed, but we do not enter into correspondence about the panel’s judgement.
- We may correct, amend or withdraw an entry where information later proves inaccurate, or where a property ceases trading, changes ownership or no longer meets the eligibility criteria.
4. People’s Choice voting
- Voting is open to residents of Australia aged 18 and over, one vote per verified email address.
- You may change your vote at any time until voting closes. Only your most recent vote counts.
- Automated, bulk, purchased, incentivised or otherwise manipulated voting is prohibited. We may discard any votes we reasonably believe to be inauthentic, and may disqualify a property whose representatives organise such activity.
- Running vote percentages shown on the site are indicative. Final results are those certified by us after voting closes.
- The People’s Choice award is reported separately and does not affect the order of the judged 50.
5. Win a weekend giveaway
- The giveaway is run in collaboration with the campaign media partner. Full entry conditions, the prize pool, the draw date and the permit numbers where required are published with each giveaway post and prevail over this summary.
- Entry is open to Australian residents aged 18 and over. Employees of Retro Motels Pty Ltd, the media partner, participating properties and their immediate families are not eligible.
- The prize is a two-night weekend stay at a property of the winner’s choosing from the published Top 50, plus return economy airfares within Australia for two people to the nearest serviced airport.
- The prize is subject to availability, is not transferable, is not redeemable for cash, and excludes meals, beverages, incidentals, transfers and travel insurance unless stated otherwise.
- Travel must be booked and taken within twelve months of the draw, excluding public holidays and blackout periods set by the host property.
- The winner is drawn at random from valid entries and notified by the contact details supplied. If a winner cannot be contacted within seven days, we may redraw.
6. Your content
When you submit a nomination, comment or photograph you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, reproduce and publish that material in connection with the campaign, in any medium, with attribution where practical. You confirm you own it or have permission to give us that licence.
7. Property imagery
Photography of listed properties is supplied by operators or used with permission for editorial coverage of the campaign. If you are an operator and believe an image has been used in error, contact us and we will remove or replace it promptly.
8. Outbound links
“Visit / Book” links take you to the property’s own website. We are not a booking agent, take no commission on those bookings and are not party to your booking contract. Links carry campaign tracking parameters so operators can see that their traffic came from us.
9. Liability
The site and the list are provided for general information. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude liability for loss arising from your use of the site or your stay at any listed property. Nothing in these terms excludes rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law.
10. Changes
We may update these terms. The version published on this page at the time you participate applies to that participation.
11. Contact
Questions about these terms: jeremy@retromotels.com.