Signs of pickup in accommodation market

December and January have been sharply ahead of where hotels thought they would be with a rebound of 8 per cent in December on the same month in 2008. Photo / Supplied

The number of people staying in hotels, motels and budget accommodation was lower last year but there are signs that business is beginning to pick up.

Statistics New Zealand figures show total guest nights were down 1 per cent to 32 million in 2009 but were up 4 per cent in December compared to December 2008.

The December growth was the fourth month in a row guest nights have been higher than the previous year.

Accommodation survey manager Tehseen Islam said the growth was down to higher numbers of international visitors.

Overseas guest nights were up 7 per cent in December while domestic visitors grew 3 per cent.

But lower international guest nights were the main reason for the overall drop last year.

International nights were down 3 per cent, contributing to 81 per cent of the fall in total guest nights, while domestic guest nights were down less than 1 per cent.

Auckland and the Bay of Plenty were hit the hardest by fewer international visitors.

Only the Waikato and Otago managed to record higher international guest nights out of the 12 regions monitored.

Budget accommodation providers were the winners last year.

Backpackers were the only accommodation type to see an increase in guest nights - up just 1 per cent or 53,000 nights - while motels suffered the most, dropping 3 per cent or 304,000 nights.

"Certainly 2009 wasn't a good year for us," said Michael Baines, chief executive of the Motel Association of New Zealand.

"2008 wasn't that crash hot either."

Holiday parks were down 2 per cent or 105,000 nights while hotels guest nights fell 1 per cent or 111,000 nights.

But December saw all four accommodation types make a strong recovery. Hotels bounced back the most with a rebound of 8 per cent, or 66,000 nights, on December 2008.

Hotel Council chairwoman Jennie Langley said December and January had been sharply ahead of where hotels thought they would be but the trend towards last minute booking was making it tough to predict how 2010 would pan out.

"Things are starting to look better but nobody is out there rejoicing."

Langley said visitor numbers from a lot of New Zealand's major markets were still down. "But people are feeling more confident and things are stabilising."

Langley said there was a lot of demand for deals and more and more visitors were doing their own research and booking online at the last minute.

Langley said bookings were looking good for the next couple of months and it was hoped that extra marketing in Australia would help extend the season.

But she said hotel operators had had to adapt to the different environment.

"Nobody is expecting it to return to the peaks."

Businesses were having to get used to a different way of marketing and focusing more on social media and the digital market.

"Social marketing has become critical."

GUEST NIGHTS

December 2009

Hotels: +66,000 (8 per cent)
Holiday parks: +28,000 (3 per cent)
Backpackers: +24,000 (5 per cent)
Motels: +19,000 (2 per cent)