Hotel Windsor CEO David Perry stated "that the hotel is not surprised to read Horwath HTL's Annual Global Hotel Market Sentiment Bi-Annual Survey** which has just been released for 2013 showing that Oceania had the most positive sentiment of any region in the world when it comes to current levels of optimism in the hotel sector".

**    http://horwathhtl.com/2013/04/04/global-hotel-market-sentiment-survey-h1-2013/

Perry went on to say "globally the major change would have to be the more positive sentiment coming out of the USA which is still the world's largest economy".  Horwath point out that "there are strong indications there of a recovery beginning to take root and following 3 or 4 years of effectively zero supply growth any hardening of demand is going to translate directly to the bottom line of hotels in that market in a way that has not happened in previous cycles".  This supports statistics at the end of last year from Visa Card International that was discussed at the Virtuoso Travel Agents Week in Las Vegas that show US$17 billion increase in international travel spend by US travellers alone in the first half of 2012 - up 7% of the year before. 

Horwath, however, note that Oceania "holds the most positive sentiment for general market performance in 2013".

Perry commented that "The Windsor has just had the busiest February and the busiest March since records began throughout the hotel's 130 year history with February seeing an occupancy rate of over 89% and March seeing occupancies reach a dizzying 92%.  With occupancy reaching peak levels the only thing to expect is for rates to steadily rise following what had been a relatively flat 3 years."

The Hotel Windsor noted that some areas of Australia may be reacting slightly differently thanks to local conditions but it appears that the high level of the Australian dollar has not seriously impacted the industry in major cities as seriously as perhaps some were expecting. 

In February Federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, pointed out the significant growth coming out of China stating that "a decade ago only 3 Chinese carriers offered just 11 services per week from China to Australia whilst none of our airlines flew here.   Now there are 82 weekly flights between our 2 countries with both Qantas and Jetstar flying into Chinese destinations".

About The Windsor 

The Windsor is one of the world's oldest Grand hotels and pre-dates The Savoy in London, The Ritz in Paris, Raffles in Singapore and The Plaza and Waldorf Astoria in New York. It has been the haunt of a distinguished list of celebrities since opening its doors in 1883.  Notable past and present guests include Katharine Hepburn, Sir Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Meryl Streep, Barry Humphries, Sir Robert Menzies, Paul Keating and Sir Richard Branson.

For further information:

David Perry
CEO, The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne.

03 9633 6000 or 0437 650 755
dperry@thw.com.au