Hotels shrug off higher Australian dollar to post price rises

Australian hotels managed to increase prices beyond the global average last year, despite a mixed performance across cities and the strong local currency putting pressure on domestic demand.

According to the Hotels.com 2010 Hotel Price Index, which measures prices paid rather than advertised rates, the average price of a hotel room in Australia rose 5% in Australia, versus a 2% rise worldwide.

The Australian growth was underpinned by a 16% price increase for Sydney hotel rooms to $168 per night, with the nation’s capital Canberra also seeing rates rise by 18% to $189 per night.

Melbourne prices were flat at $146 per night, while Brisbane price were up 6% to $148. Prices in Darwin and Adelaide both fell, with Darwin down 4% to 148 and Adelaide down 5% to $142.

Tourist town Cairns, by contrast, had an average room rate of just $118 per night.

“They’ve suffered very badly up there,” Tourism Whitsundays chief executive Peter O’Reilly told SmartCompany.

According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of accommodation for the year ending September 2010, the average rate in the Whitsundays was about $225 per night, versus the Queensland average of $145 per night.

O’Reilly says conditions remains tough in his region, with backpackers still not back in force, although some operators say they are up on last year.

“There has been some discounting, and people tend to pay for that in the long term because they struggle to retain yields,” O’Reilly said.