Hoteliers in Melbourne are licking their lips as tennis fans from around the world descend on Australia’s (apparent) sporting capital for the 2024 Australian Open.
A number of hotels across the Victorian capital have been fully booked for the entirety of the two-week competition which began on Sunday.
Dougal Hollis, the GM of Accommodation Australia (Victoria) believes the 9,000 new hotel rooms built in the city since 2020 make up a 25 per cent increase in stock and the immense booking numbers highlight the attraction of the event.
Sean Hunt, the area VP of Marriott International’s Australian, New Zealand and Pacific regions told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that the group’s 11 Melbourne hotels are on track to beat last year’s occupancy figures of 80 per cent.
Marriott’s $ 800-a-night Ritz-Carlton is fully booked out and Hunt expects overall revenue to be up 25 per cent compared to the same two-week period during last year’s tournament.
Australian Open (2016). iStock – ymgerman
“Demand in Melbourne is off the scale right now,” GM, Hotel Windsor, David Perry, told the AFR.
Hotel Windsor, located in the heart of the city’s CBD said the historic property is either totally booked out or hitting 95 per cent occupancy rates for the entirety of the competition and went on to described the tournament director, Craig Tiley, as a ‘national tourism treasure’.
