States need to back events to drive business, says hotel boss

State governments must secure more events to drive their economies, by boosting hotel industry, hospitality businesses and those in city centres, says Accor Pacific’s chief operating officer.

Events like the Metallica tour set for November 2025 are crucial for driving up hotel occupancy rates, according to a top Accor executive. Picture: Tim Saccenti

Accor Pacific chief operating officer Adrian Williams wants state governments to secure more major events to drive their economies, given the power they have to drive up hotel occupancies, and in turn room rates.

“Events certainly underpin our upside performance,” said Mr Williams, who is in charge of 354 Accor hotels, including 19 international brands throughout Australia.

Since he won the top gig 12 months ago, Mr Williams has added six more hotels to the Accor network, which has another 20 properties in the pipeline.

Accor Pacific chief operating officer Adrian Williams.

While Sydney hotel occupancy rates had risen 4.8 per cent over the past year on year, Perth hotel occupancies shot up 9 per cent in the same time frame. Brisbane had also been a standout after recording a 6 per cent increase for the same period.

Despite the increases, Williams said winter had been tough on the hospitality industry.

“It has been a bit of a challenging year because of the cost of living,” he said.

New CBRE research reveals that despite the frenzied publicity surrounding the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in February, Sydney Harbour’s New Year’s Eve fireworks had a greater impact on hotel room rates and occupancy.

An extra 22,700 room nights were sold during Taylor Swift’s four-night concert run in Sydney, equating to a $36.4m jump in hotel room revenues compared with two weeks either side of the February event.

But the Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks spurred even more revenue for hoteliers. Over the three impact days – New Year’s Eve and the two days either side, it contributed an extra 30,100 room nights, generating a $51m increase in extra room revenue, compared with a fortnight either side of the event.

December 31, 2023, was the highest-earning day for the year, with an average room rate of $776 per night.

“We love the fireworks and what a great way to celebrate; Sydney is a better city when the hotel industry is firing,” Williams said.

As for Melbourne, he said the city had a lot of new hotel supply, which could impact occupancies.

“We need to see growth in room rates for Melbourne because of cost pressures, whether its energy, insurance or increases in food pricing,” he said.

“But in Melbourne you have some of the best new hotel stock in a new generation. This brings a strong foundation for the new wave of tourism product.

The F1 Grand Prix in March boosted hotel occupancy rates in Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

“People still want to travel to Melbourne, there’s growth in demand for the Australian Open, we expect a record for the Grand Prix. We still remain very optimistic about Melbourne.

“Australians want to travel – we need to give them reasons to travel, like great restaurants, great bars and great events.”

As such, Williams is keen to welcome more events next year, from the sporting – including the British & Irish Lions rugby union tour, NRL’s State of Origin, and tennis’ Australian Open – to the cultural, – including the Metallica, Oasis and Katy Perry concert tours.

“You need to have government investing and of course air capacity is critical,” Williams said.

“If there’s an event, Australians love to travel. When Oasis is on you will save because you will have to go because it’s a cultural event, it brings a general community optimism.”

Liam and Noel Gallagher are reforming their band, Oasis, and are set to tour Australia in November 2025.

Despite a lack of Chinese investment in hotels, Mr Williams said the bulk of foreign investment still came from Asia. However, Australian investors still made up the backbone of the Australian hotel investment industry.

Mr Williams said foreigners were interested in all the Accor brands, from mid-scale to premium, but they invested where they thought they could get the best returns.

Williams said Pullman remained the largest and fastest-growing premium brand in the market.

And even Sydney could do with more hotels.

“More hotels are needed in a sensible way in Sydney,” he said.

Originally published as States need to back events to drive business, says hotel boss