Fashion Week fires up Sydney hotel records
Major fashion and tourism events helped lift Sydney hotel occupancies and room rates to record levels in May.
The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Vivid Sydney contributed to record average daily hotel rates of $215.64, according to London-based hotel data rating agency STR.
Sydney hotel occupancies jumped to an average of 83% while revenue per available room, the standard industry measure, hit $178.95, the second-highest for any May on record in Sydney.
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“The opening week of Vivid Sydney 2018 coincided with occupancy growth of 4.6 per cent and an average daily rate increase of 5.4% compared with the same Vivid Sydney 2017 rates,” STR says.
The strong data in the typically soft month of May comes as America’s Marriott International last week announced it would open a luxury W Hotel in Sydney within two years.
Marriott says it will re-enter the Sydney market after a decade-long absence with a 593-room, purpose-built property on a prime Darling Harbour site.
Marriott’s chief operations officer for the Asia-Pacific, Rajeev Menon, says the company has struck deals to manage two-thirds of the luxury hotels in Australia’s development pipeline.
“Globally we are seeing tremendous growth in the W Hotel brand,” Menon says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
