Australian hotels set to slash prices

HOTELS in Australia are cutting the price of rooms in a bid to entice holidaymakers away from overseas breaks.

Crown Promenade Hotel standard room

HOTELS in Australia are cutting the price of rooms in a bid to entice holidaymakers away from overseas breaks.

Nearly a third of Australian hotels plan to lower their rates before September, a global survey of more than 25,000 hoteliers by travel review site TripAdvisor found.

Europe was the only place in the world where more hotels planned to drop their rates, with Greece, Spain and Italy topping the list.

Hotel analyst Dean Dransfield said European hotels were lowering their rates because of the economy.

But Australian hotels focusing on leisure travellers were not doing as well as CBD hotels targeted at business travellers.

"They are competing with destinations like Bali, Fiji and even Hawaii now,'' he said.

"The pricing to go to Hawaii is better than it's been for a long time.''

Mr Dransfield said people were increasingly booking accommodation online and taking their chance with availability in the hope of finding last minute deals.

"With later and later bookings it's hard to hold your nerve and you become very vulnerable to who is cracking and reducing their prices,'' he said.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said the next couple of months were the low season for many tourist destinations so it was understandable prices would fall.

"The number of Australians holidaying overseas is continuing to grow, and many leisure destinations in regional Australia are reducing their rates or offering bonuses like free nights to try to attract patrons,'' he said.

The TripAdvisor Industry IndexTM also found Australian hotels were among the most eco-friendly in the world and have low staff turnover compared to other countries.

Australia ranked ninth when it came to eco-friendly practices such as using energy-efficient light bulbs, water-efficient toilets and showers and towel and linen reuse.

Mr Lee said many hoteliers were trying to reduce their costs following the introduction of the carbon tax.

Accommodation Association of Australia CEO Richard Munro also said the tax would be having an impact.

"With so many measures already in place, it also confirms the association's view that adjusting to the carbon tax will pose challenges for the industry,'' he said.

New Zealand was found to have the most eco-friendly accommodation options, followed by Canada and Brazil.

But Australian hotels were falling behind when it comes to social media.

They ranked number 19 in the world when it came to using sites such as Facebook and Twitter to attract travellers.

Hotel owners and managers responded to the survey, which was conducted in June.