Hotels tip busy holiday season for Queensland and Victoria

The big players like Accor and Meriton are readying for the holiday surge as guests look to stay domestically.

Wentworth Bar in the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. Photo: supplied Escape Nov 2024 Hotel Review - Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Photo: supplied

Queensland, the ACT and Victoria are expecting a strong Easter with hotel bookings well up on 2024, but Sydney bookings remain lacklustre compared to 12 months ago.

Despite north Queensland’s floods and ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in the state’s southeast, hotel giant Accor says Easter forward bookings for its Queensland hotels are up 30 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Accor says Cairns is leading its Queensland destinations with a 63 per cent increase in Easter bookings compared to 2024.

North Queensland is 43 per cent ahead of last year, and the Gold Coast – which was heavily affected by Cyclone Alfred – is 32 per cent ahead of last year.

Major promotion of Cairns, the Sunshine and Gold coasts through Tourism and Events Queensland’s “Too Great to Wait” campaign, plus discount airfares launched by all three major carriers, contributed to a surge in bookings as the destinations jockeyed to rebuild their markets for Easter and the school holidays, according to Accor.

Competitor Meriton Suites is also doing well in Queensland at its Gold Coast locations.

Meriton Suites group general manager Matthew Thomas said the company’s three locations had higher-than-anticipated demand over the forthcoming school holiday period and Easter long weekend. “Clearly many domestic travellers have rescheduled pre-booked flights that were disrupted by the recent cyclone event in SE Queensland,” he said.

However, Queensland is not the only state expected to enjoy strong accommodation growth over Easter, with Accor saying its bookings are also up in Canberra and Victoria. However, Sydney’s forward bookings are lagging at just 14 per cent above last year.

Accor’s Canberra hotels have recorded 103 per cent growth in advance bookings compared to 2024, with visitors reportedly drawn by the last fortnight of the Pompeii exhibition and the National Folk Festival, which is expected to draw up to 40,000 visitors.

Accor’s Victorian hotels are also high on the popularity scale, with 39 per cent growth year-on-year. Melbourne hotels are enjoying an autumn renaissance with 41 per cent growth in bookings, driven by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and a series of high-profile AFL games.

Wentworth Bar in the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

Accor chief operating officer, Pacific Region, Adrian Williams said the strength of Queensland bookings was encouraging.

“While Tropical Cyclone Alfred and floods in northern Queensland initially impacted bookings across the east coast, a swift and widespread promotional push – combined with attractive airfares and highly competitive hotel packages – has successfully reignited travel demand,” he said.

“With two consecutive long weekends plus school holidays, Queensland has a prime opportunity to recover some of the estimated $300m in lost revenue caused by recent weather events.

“Across Australia, we continue to see the incredible impact of major events in driving leisure travel.

“Sport, in particular, is proving to be a powerful catalyst for weekend occupancies, and with the British and Irish Lions rugby tour set to take place over winter, we expect this trend to gain even more momentum.

“With growing consumer confidence, we have strong optimism for hotel performance throughout the remainder of 2025.”

Meriton added that its Meriton Suites also do well during public holidays, attracting drive-market customers.

“Our drive-market getaway locations like Canberra, Melbourne and Bondi Junction all have strong forward occupancies over the holiday periods,” Mr Thomas said. “We always have busy hotels during holiday periods, as our larger suites like two and three bedrooms cater perfectly for family accommodation.”

Originally published as Hotels tip busy holiday season for Queensland and Victoria