I will check my welcome letter from the GM from this week to see what it says about the dress code.
Just checked and it says nothing about a dress code.
Although I personally do not believe the Aussie attitude of "
thongs are apples for all occasions" should ever be considered as appropriate dress standard (and IMHO any exec style lounge, restaurant, church, nightclub or aircraft amongst ohers, are in most circumstances NOT a place suited to bloody thongs), I also believe consistancy must be upheld. If it's Ok under normal circumstances for one person, than it must be OK for all. My ideal would have been for your wife (and others with their feet clad in thongs) to have been politely asked for appropriate footware before entry, but as your wife was wearing a long dress, the said thongs may not have been immediately noticed.
Without wanting to cause grief (which I do not), I have said it before, if people wish to be treated in a particular style, then an appropriate dress code is warranted in return. If it's a beachside shopping centre foodcourt, then thongs may be right and moreso appropriate, but for an executive lounge thongs rarely suffice. Nor does vulgarity which despite the fact I can swear like a trooper....and regularly do on work sites, I find it particularly distastful in a lounge style environment, as I do for loud big noting. It's a code which is learned. Sometimes by parents sometimes by friends, sometimes by the school of hard knocks. An embarrassing lesson which should have been handled far better, but perhaps one which will place both you and your wife in good stead into future. Dressing appropriately for dinner is right up there with using cutlery for eating instead of fingers, it's like savouring a quality wine over quaffing a cleanskin........all are perfectly acceptable in their place, but very out of place in the wrong context.
Please don't take this post as an attack. It is not written with that intent. I only offer this as an alternative viewpoint over pure indignation and I trust all your future stays are comfortable and rewarding for you both.