Lions Tour, AFL, NRL finals trigger massive Aussie hotel surge
Grand Finals and international sports events drive huge hotel revenue (artwork) – for herald sun real estate
Die-hard Aussie sporting fans have triggered a $75m hotel boom as interstate teams contested grand finals in the nation’s two biggest football codes.
The AFL and NRL grand finals, along with the British and Irish Lions tour, have been linked with the massive top up to hotel revenues in a new Hotel Markets Performance Report released today by CBRE.
The record $75m uptick around the sporting events was part of a broader national uptick in the past quarter, with national hotel occupancy at 73 per cent.
RELATED: Actor Ryan Reynolds, Wrexham help pay Aussie mortgages
Park Hyatt Melbourne sold to Thai group KS Hotels in $205m+ deal
2021: Australian hotel sales stall as Covid-19 saps confidence
With an all interstate premiership between Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos held in Sydney, the NRL Grand Final led to 96 per cent hotel occupancy across the NSW capital — equating to an about $21m uptick in hotel revenues over three days around the big game.
The British and Irish Lions tour drove hotel occupancy rates to 91 per cent on average across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — with a combined boost to hotels worth $42m.
The AFL Grand Final between the Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions triggered an additional $12m in revenue for hotels, with 78 per cent of hotel rooms booked for the weekend of the match.
The Brisbane Broncos winning the NRL Grand Final might have hurt Sydney’s pride, but it also helped the city’s economy. Picture Thomas Lisson.
CBRE’s Australian head of hotels research Ally Gibson said the stats reflected the importance of major events to the wider economy of cities.
She added that with major boosts to restaurant, bar and pub trade as well — interstate teams knocking out local favourites from finals offered a consolation as they were arguably better for the city’s economy.
“The NRL Grand Final in Sydney is an excellent example of the positive flow-on events like this create for the hotel sector as well as the broader economy of a host city,” Ms Gibson said.
“This year’s grand final was the first to feature two out of town teams since 2017 and drew a crowd of 83,000 which in turn drove the highest hotel occupancy of the year at 96 per cent.”
CBRE’s hotel valuations director Troy Craig said there was a big summer ahead for hotels as well.
The CBRE report shows the extraordinary benefits the sporting events provided to hotels.
“Looking ahead, we expect the upcoming Ashes Cricket Test will provide another opportunity for hotel markets, with expectations of continued strong event-driven demand,” Mr Craig said.
He added that while The Ashes was spread over a longer period and might not create as much concentrated demand as the AFL and NRL grand finals had this year, on aggregate the “high-wealth toursits from the UK”, the politically correct term for the Barmy Army, would probably deliver an even bigger windfall for cities that played host.
“And the travelling circus can spend a bit of time in the cities after the matches, so that spreads things out,” Mr Craig said.
The $205m sale of Melbourne’s Park Hyatt is the biggest hotel sale of the year so far. Picture: David Crosling.
The report also found that Sydney’s hotel market had the best run of the past three months, with 83 per cent occupancy across the city in the September quarter — up 4 percentage points from a year ago.
Perth also achieved 80 per cent occupancy, while Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra all topped 70 per cent in the three month period.
CBRE’s data also confirms major recent hotel moves, including Thailand-based KS Hotels buying Melbourne’s Park Hyatt for $205m in August, Amora Hotels and Resorts buying the Hilton Adelaide for $107m midway through the year, the sale of Skye Suites Sydney included about $58m for its hotel component, and Soho Brisbane’s sale was earmarked at $13m.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Bizarre listing video serves up McLaughs
