Canberra and the wider Australian Capital Territory emerged from the shadows and dominated key hotel performance metrics for the month of October, according to official full-month data released today from hotel market analysts STR.
Mainland capital cities – particularly major east-coast capitals – all posted declines in state-wide occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR) and RevPAR, continuing recent downward trends from the second half of 2018 and the same month last year.
While occupancy overall was down in Canberra, average daily rate and RevPAR both performed strongly, up nearly $10 per room per night to nearly $185 and up nearly $20 in revenue per night to knocking on the door of $160 per room per night.
Far and away, the poorest result among major cities for the month came in Darwin, which posted a 23% fall in occupancy for October 2018 versus October 2017 when it noted a 78.7 result. Room revenue was down nearly 27% – a poor outcome considering only a 0.9% drop in room availability.
Losses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were much less dramatic, down 1%, 0.7% and 2.2% respectively. The three cities posted mixed results in occupancy, with Sydney and Brisbane recording miniscule declines of 0.8% and 1.7% respectively, while Melbourne was up 0.6%.
Over in the west, Perth had a somewhat poor month also. The WA capital saw a 4.1% drop in occupancy, down from 78.3% in October 2017 to 75.1% for 2018. ADR was steady, down only a slight $1.29 per room per night, however RevPAR for those rooms also took a broadside shot, falling nearly 5% from $133 per room per night to $126.54.
Nationwide results in New Zealand were less volatile and more positive. Occupancy increased 2%, with our Kiwi neighbours also making more money from occupied rooms, recording an ADR jump of 3.4% to $190.39 and a very healthy 6.1% spike in RevPAR to $154.21 per room per night.