Queenstown hoteliers were buffeted last year by the Canterbury earthquakes' effect on Rugby World Cup visitors to the South and the rise of short-lead Asian bookings as the long-lead Western market declined.
The verdicts were heard when the New Zealand Hotel Council's annual operating survey was presented to members in the Crown Plaza Queenstown on Wednesday.
Council executive officer Rachael Shadbolt said in a statement afterwards 2011 was "an unusual year".
Any one of the events 2011 presented to the sector would have had a marked impact, but to have a Rugby World Cup, a series of earthquakes and a significant shift in the way people booked travel take place in the one year was unprecedented, she said.
Ms Shadbolt said Queenstown hotels never expected the Rugby World Cup to have a big impact on business in 2011. However, the disruption caused by the Christchurch earthquakes and the resulting relocation of games away from the South Island had a greater impact on Queenstown cup visitor numbers than anticipated.
The region did, however, benefit from some cup team and visitor business in September, with strong, market-driven room rates achieved by those hotels hosting these guests. These rates helped increase the average room rate for the resort in 2011.
The tournament "brought some challenges for hotels, with significant displacement of traditional September and October business being pushed out to either side of the event", Ms Shadbolt said.
Penny Clark, the Queenstown chairwoman of the hotel council and general manager of Goldridge Resort, said 2011 was a difficult year for hotels.
"Natural disasters, including earthquakes both in New Zealand and overseas, ash clouds, a major sporting event, ongoing global financial problems in Europe and the United States and a soft ski season all had a cumulative effect.
"Queenstown is so reliant on the free independent traveller and group tour markets that any one 'event' can have an impact on results. To have many 'events' presented to us in one year was certainly challenging."
The 2011 annual survey highlighted the significant shift in booking patterns across the country, with more visitors booking at the last minute. This was represented by a 9% shift to 42% of all council hotel-room bookings being booked less than eight days before arrival.
Queenstown sat well below the national average on 22%.
Ms Clark said there was certainly an increase on last year, when only 17% of bookings were short lead.
"We have seen a definite shift in booking patterns, with lead times getting shorter and shorter, particularly as people seek out good deals online.
"The change in visitor arrivals also had an impact. Traditional long-haul markets like the United Kingdom, Europe or US tend to book six months out from arrival and these markets have declined, replaced by more short-lead Asia-market business."
Ms Clark said hoteliers were cautiously optimistic about 2012 and hoping for a good ski season.
Moving the school holidays back into September would also help, as dates were moved to October in 2011 for the Rugby World Cup.
Fingers were crossed for a strong transtasman and domestic ski season, she said.
Facts and figures
The 20 Queenstown members of the New Zealand Hotel Council in 2011:
• Had a 59.5% occupancy rate, down 9.9 percentage points compared to 2010 at 69.4%.
• Achieved the fourth-highest average room rate of the eight hotel council regions at $145.90, up $12.60 on 2010 at $133.30.
• Generated more than $108m in revenue, up $4m on 2010 from a total of 2794 rooms.
• Employed more than 1800 people and contributed $75m to the region through wages and salaries, food and beverage purchases, rates and other expenditure, up from $66m in 2010.
• Wages and salaries plus council rates made up $34.7m and $1.7m respectively of the total.
