NYE RevPAR 2025​

Insights

• Sydney Centre North CBD new year’s eve night represents 619% of the total year.
• Sydney Centre Midtown CBD new year’s eve night represents 445% of the total year.
• Sydney Centre ICC new year’s eve night represents 426% of the total year.
• Sydney Centre South CBD new year’s eve night represents 383% of the total year.
• Sydney TR: Avg. 1.9% premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.
• Sydney Centre: Avg. 1.5% premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.
• Sydney West: NO premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.
• Sydney Airport: Avg. 1.2% premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.
• Sydney North: Avg. 1.1% premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.
• Sydney East & South: Avg. 1.6% premium RevPAR for the period incl. NYE.

Sydney Marathon

Insights

1. 2024, there were more than 25,000 registered runners, adding 10,000 in 2025 with a total of 35,000 participants.​
2. In 2025, Sydney Marathon became an Abbott World Marathon Major, making it very attractive for the hotels in the whole city. ​
3. Furthermore, the 2025 Marathon outperformed 2024 levels, indicating strengthening demand and pricing power during major sporting events. We note an average growth of 30% when combining all the submarkets from 2024 to 2025.​
4. The Marathon period achieved RevPAR materially above the annual average, reflecting strong event-driven compression. ​

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City2surf

Insights

• City2surf is an event happening every year since 1971 during the second weekend of August. Runners start in Hyde Park and finish at Bondi Beach.
• The race is always on a Sunday morning, we assumed this event drives people staying two nights in Sydney, on Saturday and Sunday night. This event drives business to hotels during the low season, as it is held at winter time.
• City2surf is driven by both occupancy (7% above total 2024/25) and notably ADR (10% above 2024/25) resulting in a RevPAR above the average for Friday and Saturday in August (excluding other major events) for each hotels class in Sydney Centre.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a recurrent event happening every year on the first weekend of March as for the past two years, 2024 and 2025.

The parade is always on a Saturday night, Horwath HTL analysed this event as people staying two nights in Sydney, on Friday and Saturday night.

Mardi Gras is driven by both occupancy (1% above 2024/25) and notably ADR (15% above 2024/25) resulting in a RevPAR above the average for Friday and Saturday in March for each hotels class in Sydney Centre.

Midscale and Economy hotels show the strongest relative growth for Mardi Gras weekend with a 23% premium compared to the average RevPAR for a Friday+Saturday in March.

Concert vs sporting events index

Concert attract more people to stay in hotels in the past two years in Sydney from 6 to 34% more demand and higher rate with events like Taylor Swift in the end of February 2024, but also Oasis, as well as Metallica and AC/DC coming one after another in November 2025. The demand for P!nk and Coldplay was also high in 2024.

Whereas sporting events, they attracted less demand in hotels propbably considering the fact that this is domestic events such as the NRL Grand Final in early October 2025. There were also international sporting events like the Lions Rugby in early August 2025, and the Sydney Marathon in 2025.

These different concert events generated more than a double increase in RevPAR for Sydney West hotels as they are located close to the stadium compared to their annual average. For the rest of the supply, they did not perform as well but reached a growth of 30 to 45% of the annual average.

Whereas sporting events recorded a 12 to 26% growth in RevPAR compared to the annual average.

Most of the sport events are recurrent, like the Cricket test every year early January, City2surf, Sydney Marathon, NRL Grand Final, State of Origin etc. For concert events, it is different as artists may or may not come back each year in Sydney.

Concerts are often held on a Saturday night, the main stadium being in Sydney West we assumed concert drives business all year round with a different ADR depending on the low or peak season.

Concert events included:

• P!nk Concert
• Taylor Swift Concert (2024)
• Fred again Concert (2024)
• The Weeknd Concert (2024)
• Coldplay Concert (2024)
• The Kid Laroi Concert (2024)
• Pearl Jam Concert (2024)
• James Blunt Concert (2024)
• Dom Dolla Concert (2024)
• Luke Combs Concert (2025)
• Billie Eilish Concert (2025)
• Katy Perry Concert (2025)
• Keith Urban Concert (2025)
• Teddy Swims Concert (2025)
• James Blunt Concert (2025)
• Oasis Concert (2025)
• Metallica Concert (2025)
• Lenny Kravitz Concert (2025)
• AC/DC Concert (2025)
• Lady Gaga Concert (2025)
• Dom Dolla Concert (2025)

Sporting events included:

• State of Origin (2024 & 2025)
• City2surf (2024 & 2025)
• Marathon (2024 & 2025)
• NRL Grand Final (2024 & 2025)
• Cricket Test (2024 & 2025)
• Race of Champions (2025)
• HYROX (2025)
• Lions Rugby (2025)
• Monster Jam (2025)

Horwath HTL: Hospitality Advisory

Horwath HTL has been Australia’s pre-eminent hospitality industry advisory firm for over 30 years, providing hotel market forecasts, performance benchmarking reports, feasibility studies, performance improvement plans, acquisition due diligence studies, and expert witness reports.

Damien Little is a Director with Horwath HTL in Melbourne, bringing 22 years of consulting experience and a strong background in financial modelling. His extensive expertise spans a wide range of hospitality projects, having completed over 400 assignments across 17 countries in the Asia Pacific region.