Hotels love that tennis now means ‘spoiling yourself’
Melburnian hoteliers experienced a higher than usual revenue bump from the Australian Open this year as more American tourists took advantage of the weak Australian dollar and locals opted to travel locally to offset cost of living pressures.
According to hotel operator Marriott, its Melbourne revenue per available room during the Australian Open fortnight was more than 10 per cent higher compared to last year, driven by 10 per cent more Americans coming for the tennis and staying at its hotels.
The Australian dollar has slumped to around US62¢ since December, which is its lowest levels since the 2020 pandemic and 2008 global financial crisis. That has led to more foreign travellers taking advantage of their greater spending power here and more locals staying home.
“The Australian dollar has been a big a motivator with how it sits against the US dollar. This time of the year, when Australia is nice and sunny, is another factor,” said Jason Nuell, Marriott International Oceanic vice president.
“Many of those US guests are staying for the whole competition, especially since they’re travelling this far. We’re seeing them stay in the hotel much longer.”
The bump in hotel demand from the Australian Open led to Marriott’s Melbourne hotels recording an 8 per cent increase in booking volumes, which meant its hotels had occupancy rates of between 90 per cent to 95 per cent during the entire duration of the major tennis tournament.
Those US travellers would have been elated during their stay as their countrywoman Madison Keys claimed her maiden grand slam crown with a stirring three-set Australian Open triumph over two-time defending champion and world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday night. Keys’ win prevented Sabalenka from being the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to complete an Open title hat-trick at Melbourne Park.
Music boost as well
But it’s not just during the Australian Open when hoteliers have experienced more revenue than in previous years, according to Colliers hotels transactions head Karen Wales. Ms Wales said the trend for major music artists to increasingly choose to tour in fewer cities but spend more time in those cities has been a boon for hoteliers in Sydney and Melbourne.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour last year, for example, only came to Sydney and Melbourne but there were seven performances across those two cities. That led to Sydney and Melbourne hotels experiencing a 25 per cent and 20.1 per cent spike respectively in revenue per available room during the month the pop star visited, according to Colliers data.
The Eras tour also allowed hoteliers to lift their room rates by 18.1 per cent 12.1 per cent across Sydney and Melbourne, respectively.
By comparison, Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour in 2018 – when she played one date apiece in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane – made no difference to hotel revenue figures.
A similar phenomenon occurred when Coldplay played several shows at Sydney and Melbourne late last year. In November, which is when Coldplay toured those cities, western Sydney hotels posted a 16.4 per cent increase in revenue per available room while Melbourne hotels posted a 12.8 per cent year-on-year increase.
“There’s shift from artists where they used to only play one date in each city. It’s now shifted to being a longer residency, or whatever you want to call it, in Sydney and Melbourne,” Ms Wales said.
“That’s provided a greater benefit to the hotels in Sydney and Melbourne. It’s a symptom of the ‘spoiling yourself’ trend, where people might not be travelling for as long and or as often because of cost of living, but when they do they’re still enjoying themselves.”
