Nationwide hotel room revenues dipped in March 2019 across most major and capital cities across Australia, compared to the year prior, according to new data out today from STR.
With a national average drop of 3.5 per cent, hotels across Australia recorded an average daily rate of $190.57 per night, down from $197.58 in March 2018.
Sydney and Canberra performed worst, down 7.2 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively. RevPAR across the two cities was down 8.3 per cent and 11.4 per cent. Despite the poor earnings and yields, occupancies were only modestly down 1.2 per cent and 4.4 per cent from the previous corresponding month in 2018.
Most Australian cities saw a slight decline in occupancies for the month. Brisbane and Melbourne suffered the least, down only a slight 1.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent. The Victorian capital saw ADR down 2.4 per cent and RevPAR down 2.6 per cent, while up in Queensland, ADR was down three per cent and RevPAR 4.6 per cent.
Perth saw a particularly harsh drop in revenue, down 10 per cent on March 2018 and an occupancy fall of 6.3 per cent.
Across the country, only Cairns and Hobart posted positive moves in terms of Average Daily Rate (ADR) with increases of five per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively.
Across the Tasman in New Zealand, results were also down, however only slightly with the national average occupancy falling a slight 1.3 per cent. Christchurch was the standout performing city, with occupancies up 2.6 per cent to 90.2 per cent. Wellington also recorded strong ADR and RevPAR results despite an occupancy dip of 1.4 per cent to 86.4 per cent.