The harbour city recorded an average daily rate (ADR) of $265.67, up almost 15 per cent year-on-year, compared with Melbourne’s $201.85, itself up 1.6 per cent over the same period.
According to Accommodation Australia’s tracking of hotel performance, Sydney’s hotels recorded an average occupancy of 84.4 per cent during August 2025. Melbourne – currently featuring an oversupply of hotel rooms following a hotel building boom – averaged 73.8 per cent occupancy in August, up 6.8 per cent year-on-year.
Nationally, the best performing cities for occupancy behind Sydney were Darwin (80.8 per cent), Perth (79.5 per cent), Brisbane (78.4 per cent), before Melbourne’s 73.8 per cent rate.
Below Melbourne, Canberra’s occupancy was 72.5 per cent, Adelaide’s was 72 per cent , Gold Coast was 70.6 per cent and Hobart was 68 per cent.
As Australia’s strongest performing hotel market, Sydney saw a year-on-year leap of 25 per cent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) at $241.15, almost $100 ahead of Melbourne’s figure of $149.03, despite this being a 10.3 per cent lift on the August 2024 performance for Melbourne.
Among other strongly performing cities, Brisbane, at $198.94, maintained its consistent growth with revenue up 6.3 per cent year-on-year. According to Accommodation Australia’s report, “the city’s strong business events sector continued to support mid-week performance, with several major conferences drawing interstate and international delegates throughout the month”.
The report singled out the Pacific Infrastructure Conference in Brisbane, which drew political and business leaders from 16 Pacific Island nations and lifted occupancy to 86 per cent on the August 19 and 20.
As the 2032 Olympic Games host, Brisbane was recently announced as Australia’s top sporting city in the 2025 Ranking of Sports Cities, compiled by global consultancy Burson.
Major events including AFL, NRL and Ekka, Brisbane’s Royal Agricultural Show, featured strongly in its August results. On Ekka’s opening day, August 9, occupancy jumped to 89.1 per cent. That day also saw an AFL sellout crowd for a match between the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans in Brisbane.
