At a time when new hotels in Australia are rarer than hen’s teeth, accommodation issues are providing Australia’s conference and event organisers some severe headaches.
Over the past decade Australia has positioned itself as a “value” destination for meetings and events, not as cheap some Asian countries, but by no means as costly as Europe, and offering a completely different style of service to North America.
The pressure is certainly on. Inbound tourism is not spectacular but still at record levels while a booming economy has corporate travel at sustained high levels for many months of the year.
As the accommodation squeeze takes hold, guests at five-star hotels in Perth are paying up to $600 a night, room only, thanks largely to the demand fuelled by the booming resources sector. Certainly conference organisers aren’t feeling as “loved” by hoteliers as in the days when supply substantially outstripped demand.
Across the country event planners are finding forward planning a real challenge, with hotels being unwilling to commit on rates and allocations. Anecdotally, the Gold Coast is regarded as being flexible and price competitive, while Sydney and Melbourne are seen as just the opposite.
One of the bigger players, CiEvents runs upwards of 250 events or conferences a year and this year in Melbourne will host the largest single seated gala dinner event to be staged in Australia when just short of 5000 guests gather for a gala award night.
“It’s ironic that the ‘world’s most livable city’ can often be Australia’s most difficult to source accommodation,” says Nigel Cottingham director of communications for CiEvents.
“Through our direct associations with Flight Centre Limited, CiEvents has strong relationships with a number of leading hotel chains and in cases like this our preferred suppliers all pull together so we not only ensure that our client has sufficient room nights for their needs, but also that the city itself is displayed in the best possible light.
“In other cities you might see a more aggressively competitive stance but Melbourne occupancy remains high most of the year round so they tend to work more closely together with each other and in turn with companies like ours.”
Event Manager for the Australian Water Association, Linda Phillips, runs about 60 events a year, with the largest being a national conference for around 1500 delegates.
In the main her delegates book their own accommodation and for larger meetings AWA will use booking agencies such as Ozzacom to handle the accommodation needs of the delegates.
“Accommodation is expensive in Sydney, however that is where most of our members are based, so we have to have a lot of events there,” she says.
“A couple of times we have decided to hold an event on the Gold Coast instead of Brisbane due to prices. Gold Coast is good as it is easy to get to and has an international airport. There are heaps of venues to choose from and prices are competitive.”
In Queensland, Rob Henshaw of Organisers Australia in Palm Beach, is responsible for the planning and management of between 12 and 15 conferences a year. He’s unhappy with the development of “dynamic pricing” where hotels refuse to commit to a specified rate.
“There is no longer any incentive to run conferences at quiet times of the year and get good rates,” he says.
He avoids Sydney as much as possible due to the cost of accommodation.
“I wouldn’t go to the Sydney CBD no matter what. They seemed to price themselves out of the market around the time of the Olympic Games and haven’t changed since. Best by far is the Gold Coast, who don’t even charge for venue space if the conference is large enough.”
At ID Meetings and Events in Sydney, Karen Mathieson runs some large events. Last year’s SIBOS meeting attracted some 7100 delegates and exhibitors to the harbour city. She says Sydney is extremely tight from September to December, but the problem is a national one.
“Places like Port Douglas are tight most of the year round for large groups [wanting to stay] all in the one hotel or resort. Our planning has most been affected by the inability to secure function space without being able to commit to the hotels’ “required” amount of guest rooms. We tried to find space for a 3000 pax event in Brisbane earlier this year and found that only Sydney could accommodate that amount of delegates in comparable 4/5-star standards.”
More challenging to Karen is finding accommodation in the smaller states. She says Tasmania lacks sufficient five-star hotels and air access can be a problem.
“Adelaide doesn’t have that many five-star hotels, but the convention centre is excellent and there are plenty of good regional activities to offer the visitor,” she adds.
Dynamic pricing is one of the uncertainties that a conference organiser, sometimes working years in advance of an international conference, has to balance. It’s something CiEvents has learnt to work around.
“Typically, we will be looking to lock in the accommodation portion of an event up to six months or more in advance of that event being staged so the rates we are given are not affected by dynamic pricing,” says Nigel Cottingham.
At ICMS Australasia it’s a matter of leveraging business relations, according to general manager Emma Bowyer.
“As many of our events are larger in size, we’ve been able to secure some associated satellite meetings to the larger event to benefit hotels in terms of residential conferences,” she says.
Depending on the number of delegates, Adelaide stands out as being a great place to run a conference or event. But it would also be difficult to go past Melbourne or Sydney, particularly if you are looking to include a variety of fine-dining options and/or partner activities as a component part of the event.
Best by far, Gold Coast - flexible with rates, don’t charge for venue space for larger conferences.
Brisbane – excellent for a casual, tropical feel conference. Good four-star hotels, event spaces. Very appealing price points and staff that usually want the business. Melbourne –there is a lot to do with excellent off-site options. Better price point than Sydney.
Gold Coast is good as it is easy to get to and has an international airport. There are heaps of venues to choose from and prices are competitive.
It’s all about relationships and understanding the challenges PCOs face. I’ve not found Sydney or Melbourne to be difficult in terms of room or rate allocation, it’s about leveraging for win-win outcomes. Flexibility resides in individual properties, not cities.
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