Pacific Rim Business Brokers Pty Limited

1. The NSW Motel Industry

There are currently 1,388 motels, hotels, resorts and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms in New South Wales. They offer a total of 70,725 rooms, 190,081 beds spaces and employ 30,004 people. 1

In the 2012/13 financial year these properties produced $1.8 billion in accommodation revenue from an average occupancy rate of 65.2%.

It is important to note that occupancy rates and accommodation revenues are very different for Sydney and non-Sydney motels. Sydney accommodation properties enjoy an average occupancy rate around 80%, while non-Sydney motels have occupancies around 50%. Generally, when the press runs articles on accommodation statistics they refer to capital cities. This can give the false impression that good motels should enjoy occupancy rates around 80% when in fact good country motels may be running at 50%.

The chart below sets out the average occupancy rates for Sydney and non-Sydney motels for the last nine financial years. Of interest is the very steady nature of non-Sydney motels occupancy rates. If you are planning to purchase a NSW country motel you are entering a very steady industry that was almost unaffected by the recent Global Financial Crisis.

 

Sydney Non Sydney Occupancy Rates

The five star Sydney hotels set the standard for capital city tariffs, and, as expected, they are substantially higher than non-Sydney tariffs. Over the past nine financial years Sydney tariffs have averaged $176.56 while non-Sydney tariffs have averaged $119.64.


Sydney Non Sydney Average Tariffs

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics June 2013 quarter.  The ABS publishes motel data that gives motel buyers an excellent snapshot of trading conditions in major country towns and regions.  These statistics were published quarterly, but from the 2013/14 financial year they will be published annually.  Go to www.abs.gov.au and follow these links Statistics → Topic → Industry → Tourism → Accommodation → Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, New South Wales.  You can then download current and past quarterly statistics.  At the time of this update (May 2015) the most recent ABS statistics were for June 2013.