Best month ever for hotel bookings as major hotel conference ‘checks in’ to Adelaide

Hoteliers across Adelaide are celebrating their best month ever, as new data shows Mad March saw more hotel rooms booked than any other month before it – creating an all-time high of more than $60 million in revenue for the month.

The statistics from hotel data analytics firm, STR, show there was an average of 8,376 room nights occupied each night of March 2023 – making it the best month on record.

It comes as around 1,400 delegates from across the globe ‘check in’ to the city for the Asia Pacific Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition (AHICE) which kicks off today at Adelaide Oval.

Its third consecutive year in Adelaide, AHICE will showcase the capital city’s pipeline of recent hotel developments and position Adelaide and South Australia as an attractive place to invest and do business on the world stage.

The major hotel event attracts some of the world’s largest investors and key decision makers in the global accommodation sector, including key executive decision makers from national and international hotel chains.

Delegates are attending this year from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as across Australia.

Over the next two days delegates will hear from world-class speakers and attend panel sessions and networking events as they focus on the direction of the hotel sector in Australia, the Asia Pacific and globally.

AHICE has been hosted in Adelaide since 2021; this year’s conference and exhibition will run from 3-4 May 2023.

The business event sector is worth more than $2.5 billion in South Australia.

Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison said it is a fantastic time to be welcoming back the largest and most influential hotel conference in the Asia Pacific – at a time when new data shows the state just had its best month ever for Adelaide hotel bookings and revenue.

"With a record more than $60 million in hotel bookings in March, it’s clear the demand is right here in Adelaide – and this should give potential investors here for AHICE this week a big vote of confidence in our state," Minister Bettison said.

"Hosting conferences like AHICE is a strong endorsement in our industry here, they give our economy an immediate boost through increased visitation, and they offer the chance to generate business deals that see more private investment coming in, leading to more jobs.

"Since 2020, we’ve had an incredible pipeline of investment in Adelaide with a string of hotels open or commence construction worth nearly $1.2 billion – including the Marriott GPO Hotel, Oval Hotel, Eos by SkyCity, Hotel Indigo, Sofitel Adelaide and more.

"We’ve also seen major events generate strong demand and record-breaking bookings for our around 10,500 hotel rooms available across Adelaide, events like Harvest Rock, WOMADelaide, the inaugural Gather Round and more recently, LIV Golf Adelaide.

"AHICE is billed as ‘the hotel event where deals get done’ and I wish all the delegates a very successful conference."

AHICE Founder, Chair and Convenor, James Wilkinson said it is thrilling to have Asia-Pacific’s largest and leading hotel and tourism investment conference back in Adelaide for the third year and this year’s conference even bigger and better.

"Over 1400 executives are attending the 2023 edition of AHICE, which has attracted some of the world’s largest investors in the global accommodation sector from the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia alongside the leading developers and owners here in Australia," Mr Wilkinson said.

"Adelaide is an exciting destination for AHICE as the city’s accommodation sector has boomed, with so many brilliant new hotels added to the mix in recent years and even more to come, including the Marriott Hotel Adelaide at GPO, Holiday Inn & Suites Adelaide Mawson Lakes and the Little National, which are attracting a lot of industry attention.

"AHICE has grown into the largest and most significant hotel industry conference in the world outside Europe and the United States, and with such strong demand for hotel rooms being experienced here in Adelaide, it is fitting to have South Australia firmly in the spotlight for the global hotel industry."

General Manager/CEO Australian Hotel Association SA, Ian Horne said the post covid recovery has been extraordinary and now demonstrated in the record revenue and occupancy results for March.

"Record revenue and occupancy results is a massive shot in the arm for existing accommodation providers and importantly a tangible incentive for other potential developers to choose Adelaide for their next investment project," Mr Horne said. 

"We wait with anticipation to what April and May deliverer given the enormous activity in major sporting and business events in those months.

"The winners of this tourism and leisure bonanza are not only the venue owners and operators but their thousands of employees, suppliers, sub-contractors and the broader South Australian Community though increased employment, taxation revenue and community and business confidence."