Hotel rates slashed

Sydney hotel room rates have fallen by a third in the last year as the market shifts from business to leisure travel, according to industry sources.

In a survey published earlier this month, online booking site Hotels.com found room rates in Sydney were down by 30 per cent to an average of $140 a night, compared to $201 a year ago. It also found the biggest fall in rates among Australian cities to have occurred in Sydney.

With the onset of the economic crisis, consumers have turned their sights to domestic travel as a way to save money, according to a spokesperson for Mantra Group, Susan Boyd. “These people used to go overseas for the shopping, arts, culture and theatre, and now they’re looking at what we’ve got to offer in Australia – so people are definitely taking inner-city breaks over holidays,” she said.

“Basically we’ve seen in the last 12 months that our CBD properties that were primarily nearly all corporate business, have a swing around and that they’ve become popular locations for leisure business. It was really a change of our marketing focus to get people to consider inner-city or CBD destinations for their holiday times.”

Toga Hospitality CEO Rachel Argaman has also seen an increase in the number of domestic travellers. “Forward domestic bookings are on the increase at the moment, helped by the warmer weather and the approach of summer,” she said.

Strathfield residents Jennifer and Trevor Tanios have had to cut back on spending since the birth of their son Zachary. “We’ve become a little more conservative with the addition of our new child, so that’s changed everything,” Mrs Tanios said.

Taking regular holidays in and around Sydney has helped the couple take some much-needed time out, while keeping within the family budget.

“We try to go (on a holiday) every school break or every second school break. It helps us relax and to see a new environment,” she said.

Hotel membership cards have helped cut down even further on their holiday spending.

“With the membership, it’s not really cheaper with the hotel – you’re mainly using it for the buffets which work out to about half-price.”

Mrs Tanios said she especially enjoyed city escapes, as it gave her an opportunity to shop and explore parts of Sydney she hadn’t seen. “I mainly work in the inner west suburbs teaching, whereas my husband Trevor has worked in the city all his life, so it’s more of a holiday for me than it is for him.”

The Hotels.com survey also found a 17 per cent reduction in hotel prices worldwide.

David Roche, President of Hotels.com Worldwide, said this was the most significant movement in prices seen in five years of publishing the survey.

“We were expecting 2009 to be a year of dramatic price reductions across the world, and so far, it has been,” Mr Roche said in a statement.

by Ehssan Veiszadeh