Ashes second test - Adelaide

The second test in The Ashes series got underway yesterday in Adelaide and it was definitely the hardest one yet to help people find accommodation for. Most of the Adelaide hotels were sold out well in advance and those that weren't had three night minimum stays in place or were asking for full payment at time of booking (not ideal for corporates).

Like Brisbane, the two hardest nights for accommodation in Adelaide were the night before the match started (Wed) and the first night of (Thurs). It didn't help things that there was also a Muse concert on Wednesday night.

Thankfully we have a great relationship with a sales manager at one of the hotels in Adelaide that hooked us up with a block of rooms. We also managed to get a handful of rooms from a hotel that we used to do a lot of work with and that helped a great deal. There was still unfortunately a lot of requests we weren't able to help.

Ashes 2013

I didn't realise, but looking back to previous posts, have we not had the Ashes played in Australia since 2010, could that be right?

Looking back at my post from that time, things have have worked out much like it did three years ago. The first test started today and its been a very busy week here in Brisbane. The corporate demand hasn't been as strong this year for the hotels but this has definitely been one of the busiest weeks. Again, it wasn't so much the actual nights of the cricket (over the weekend) but the hardest night to get accommodation was Wednesday, the night before it begins, and Thursday the night of the opening day.

The second test is again in Adelaide and they love their prepaid rates and minimum night stay terms & conditions so its a tough challenge to help people book accommodation there. Thankfully we've got a few good contacts in hotels there so they've hooked us up with some good deals which have got us through.

It'll be interesting to see how Perth fares for the third test. It doesn't start until December 13 which is the end of corporate travel season so whether the city fills or not we'll just have to wait and see.

As for the cricket itself, Australia had a top order collapse but the tail is wagging and hopefully they can put up a respectable first innings score and we'll have a competitive match.

Ashes 2010

One of the best month's of business we've ever had was back in 2006 when the Ashes was last in Australia. So not surprisingly all the talk in the Brisbane hotel market for the last few months has been how the GFC and the strong Australian dollar would effect the first test this year.

For us, the challenge was balancing expected demand verses the high prices hotels were charging over this likely to be peak time for the city. We had an allotment but it was nowhere near the size of what we had back in 2006 ... yes I was being cautious.

The week leading up to it played out pretty much how I expected. Rather than the city filling for the nights of the cricket, it was the night before and the first night of the cricket that were the biggest and most popular. It was the Wednesday and Thursday where the cricket overlapped with the normal corporate demand that were the ones that sold out. So while I didn't have enough rooms ready to go for those two nights, what we did well with was getting longer stays (at least a week) by having apartments at good rates through this period.

So while sales for November weren't what they were back in 2006, it was still the biggest month we've had in 3 years. And as mentioned, there were plenty of longer-stay bookings that will count as sales for December and January.

Brisbane is the hotel market that benefits the most from the Ashes due to the timing and the overlap with corporate demand. The other city that does well due to the cricket is Adelaide who has the second test and also virtually filled for numerous nights this week (and at very high rates). Perth, Sydney and Melbourne do benefit from the cricket, but not to the same levels as Brisbane and Adelaide because corporate travel has already died down.

Unfortunately for the Australian cricket team, they're not currently enjoying the Ashes anywhere near as much as we are right now.