Aussies now starting to pay the price for love of OS holidays

- HotelsCombined Hotel Price Trends Report – Summer 2013

- US, Asia and Middle East hotels rack up biggest increases 

- Australian regional hotels see biggest drops while cities rise

- Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast named as top three summer travel destinations

Sydney, 06 May 2013: Aussie travellers may continue to flock overseas on holiday but they face increasing price hikes across key destinations in the USA, South East Asia and the Middle East according to the comprehensive HotelsCombined Australian Hotel Price Trends Report Summer 2013.

On average, a hotel room in Los Angeles cost 30 per cent more than it did last summer, while a hotel for a stopover in Dubai will see travellers forking out 33 per cent more than the year before. Hotel prices in the popular Nha Trang area of Vietnam jumped 27%.

Meanwhile in Australia, hotel prices across major cities are also showing keen demand with price increases across most metro locations. Non-metro destinations however saw the reverse with four out of the five biggest price falls found in regional areas.

The HotelsCombined Australian Hotel Price Trend report analyses the top 100 destinations Australians travelled to over the summer period (December to Febraury) between 2012 and 2013.  It is the most comprehensive benchmark available incorporating hotel price data from hundreds of the top travel websites including Agoda.com, HotelClub, Expedia and Best Western Hotels.

Major Australian cities on the increase

Major Australian cities experienced a healthy rate of increase. Sydney remained the most travelled to destination by Australians over the summer period and experienced a five per cent increase in prices from $205 in 2011/2012 to $215 in 2012/2013. As the second most travelled to destination, Melbourne saw a seven per cent increase from $169 to $181. The Gold Coast saw prices jump from $192 and $207 showing a seven percent increase. Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide recorded smaller rises at three, five and two per cent with Darwin experiencing the biggest growth of 15 percent. Canberra was the only major Australian city to experience a decline in average price over the summer period from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013.

Aussie holiday hoteliers suffer this summer

The great Aussie holiday continued to fall out of favour with holiday makers with marked decreases across several of the country’s most popular holiday spots. Phillip Island prices dropped from $203 to $178 representing a 12 per cent decrease, whilst Mildura and Pokolbin both dropped by six per cent ($129 to $121 and $259 to $244).

Byron Bay fell by five per cent from $264 to $252 however, the biggest decrease was seen in Newcastle and Katoomba which both experienced a 15 per cent fall in average hotel price. Once a popular party destination and a go-to spot for Hens and Bucks parties, Newcastle prices may have been impacted by alcohol trading restrictions, falling from $172 to $146. Prices in Katoomba fell from $184 in summer 2011/2012 to $157 this summer 2012/2013.

Steady rise in South East Asia

South East Asian destinations experienced steady price increases as more Australians travelled overseas during the summer thanks to the strong Australian dollar. Nha Trang in Vietnam continued to grow in popularity with average hotel prices growing from $123 to $157, a rise of 27 per cent. Boracay in the Philippines experienced an identical rate of growth with prices rising from $119 to $151, whilst Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok increased by 13 and 10 per cent.

Demand in USA drives up prices

The USA continued to gain traction as a popular destination amongst Australian travellers with demand driving up prices in Los Angeles and Honolulu. Prices in the west coast capital of Los Angeles jumped from $131 to $171 representing a 30 per cent increase over the southern hemisphere summer holiday season.  Honolulu was one of the top 10 most popular destinations for Australians to travel to and prices grew by 26 per cent from $189 to $240.

Kristen McKenzie, Head of Community and Public Relations at HotelsCombined said: “Overall, the upturn data coming out of Australia is quite encouraging. Aside from Canberra, all major Australian cities have experienced healthy rate increases this past summer and we anticipate that next summer will prove just as successful for domestic city hotels. The continued interest and demand in South East Asia is likely affecting traffic to regional Australia destinations and we believe it will continue to dominate the board for tourism traffic and accommodation rate increases.“

HotelsCombined is the world’s leading hotel search engine and price comparison site, offering access to 400,000 hotels in 120,000 destinations worldwide. Used by more than 200 million people every year, the site allows travellers to instantly search and compare room availability and prices from all of the major hotel price sites.

*All prices and percentages reflected in AUD

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About HotelsCombined:
HotelsCombined is the world’s leading hotel price comparison site, allowing travellers to find the best prices from all the best travel sites in one search. HotelsCombined searches hundreds of hotel price-sites at once with rates at up to 80 per cent off. More than 200 million people every year use HotelsCombined.com to find the best prices for 400,000 hotels in 120,000 destinations worldwide. HotelsCombined is available in 29 languages and delivers prices in 120 currencies. Established in Australia in 2005, HotelsCombined is Australian-owned and employs more than 200 people. www.hotelscombined.com