Perth hotels rank with Sydney as most expensive in Australia

WA's economy might be in the doldrums but Perth still has the unenviable title as the joint most expensive city in Australia for hotel accommodation.

A survey by hotel price comparison site, Trivago, found that Perth and Sydney edged out the other capital cities with an average nightly accommodation rate of $208.

Melbourne and Darwin were joint third on $191 with Brisbane a gold coin donation behind on $189. Hobart came in a fiver behind that while Canberra [$173] and Adelaide [$159] completed the rankings.

A spokeswoman for Trivago said that Perth's accommodation prices had, in fact, remained flat over 12 months, aside from a seasonal peak in March.

"Prices in most other capital cities rose between two per cent to six per cent, except Canberra down three per cent and Darwin five per cent," she said.

Australian Hotels Association chief executive Bradley Woods said that there was no question that the mining sector had softened, and the effects had impacted many other sectors.

"Thankfully, WA's tourism and hospitality sector has the potential to deliver more to the Western Australian economy," he said.

Mr Woods said that more hotels would be added to the overall available room stock. This would deliver higher quality rooms and raise the overall standard of accommodation for domestic and international travellers.

"Industry forecasts by Deloitte predict growing average annual room rate growth of over 4.6 per cent over the next three years. Even with increased room capacity, it is projected that rates will still grow by 2.6 per cent," he said.

Mr Woods said it was important to remember that Perth was the most isolated capital city in the world.

"If we think of it in that context, Perth is competitively priced when compared to other Australian capital cities as well as major international cities like London, New York and Paris," he said.

Mr Woods said that other surveys in the food and beverage industry had revealed WA profits were no higher than those of competitors in the east.

"You've only got to read the glowing review of Perth in the New York Times to realise that, when you get here, you'll see that you get what you pay for – our offering is world class."

Source: WA Today, Ray Sparvell, 13^th August 2015
Originally published as: Perth hotels rank with Sydney as most expensive in Australia