Figures are continuing to pour out of Melbourne hotels that show the city truly aced the recent Australian Open from an occupancy perspective.

On the back of Mantra’s announcement of solid occupancy numbers last week, Accor has yesterday (Jan 29) come out with the news that its hotels also performed extremely well during the tennis.

Accor, which operates over 20 hotels across the city, reported an occupancy rate of 96 per cent during the final week of the Open, with rate increases of over 16 per cent compared to 2012. The great result came despite a very late booking trend.

The success of the Open heralds one of the city’s biggest event years, and Accor Regional Manager for Victoria, Adrian Williams, said the city’s hotels were feeling considerably more positive after the strong domestic and international support for the Australian Open.

“Bookings tended to come very late this year, but the attraction of both the tennis and Melbourne as an event city meant that our hotels filled to capacity,” he said.

“This is a very positive signal for the year ahead because the city has a record event calendar this year with a number of very large international conventions and exhibitions scheduled.

The economic and political uncertainty did have a dampening effect on the hotel and tourism sector in the second half of 2012, so to have such an encouraging start to 2013 augurs well for the whole Melbourne hospitality and tourism industry,” he said.

Pictured above at The Como hotel in South Yarra are (L-R) Cleo Seaman (General Manager of The Como), tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki, Anthony Cartmel (The Como), Alexandra Rolton (The Como) and Jade Persons (The Como)

James Wilkinson

Editor-In-Chief, Hotel Management