Confidence returns to Australia’s hotels as pressures build
New research shows most accommodation operators are confident heading into the 2025–26 peak season, even as staffing shortages and technology gaps persist.
2 min
Australia’s accommodation sector is entering the peak summer travel season with renewed confidence – but structural challenges around staffing and technology adoption remain unresolved.
The third edition of the Australian Accommodation Barometer, released by Booking.com in partnership with Statista, draws on insights from travel executives across hotels, tourism operators and alternative accommodation providers nationwide.
Despite ongoing geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainty, 75 per cent of Australian accommodation operators report a positive business outlook for the coming season, a marked improvement from the sector’s low point of 61 per cent in 2022.
Confidence varies by state, with Victoria recording the strongest sentiment around business development over the past six months.
That optimism is translating into investment. Nearly half of all respondents plan to increase investment in the months ahead, while a further 35 per cent intend to maintain current levels.
Larger chain hotels are leading the charge, while small and mid-sized operators and lower-rated properties are taking a more cautious approach.
One of the clearest growth drivers identified in the report is event-led tourism, which is increasingly helping operators smooth out the peaks and troughs of traditional seasonality.
Among accommodation providers that have felt the impact of events, almost half reported an increase in international or long-haul guests, while 46 per cent saw stronger booking volumes during typically quieter periods.
Financial benefits were also evident, with higher revenue per room and longer stays reported across parts of the sector.
To capitalise on this shift, many operators are embedding events into their broader strategies.
More than a third already host events to attract group and non-leisure travellers, while partnerships with wedding planners and event organisers are proving particularly effective.
Looking ahead, over half of respondents plan to actively collaborate with event organisers, and many are seeking closer alignment with local governments and destination marketing bodies.
Yet behind the positive headline figures, staffing remains a persistent pressure point.
On average, Australian hotels expect to hire more than seven employees over the next year, but filling senior and specialised roles continues to be difficult.
High salary expectations, long or irregular working hours and skills shortages were all cited as key barriers, alongside the cost and complexity of training less experienced staff.
Technology adoption presents a similar fault line.
While most operators recognise the potential of digital tools and artificial intelligence, particularly in marketing, customer service and cybersecurity, uptake remains uneven.
High implementation costs, integration challenges and a lack of technical expertise are slowing progress, particularly for smaller properties, raising concerns about a widening digital divide across the sector.
“While the sustained optimism among Australian accommodation providers is genuinely encouraging, our findings highlight clear and urgent challenges,” Todd Lacey, Regional Manager for Oceania at Booking.com, said.
“The skills shortage remains a major bottleneck, and the high cost and complexity of digital technology risks creating a digital divide where smaller businesses are left behind.
“However, the industry is not standing still; proactive strategies like embracing collaborative approaches to event tourism are showing real success in tackling seasonality, with accommodations seeing a crucial rise in bookings during typically low-demand periods.”
As Australia is in the midst of a busy summer, the barometer suggests an industry buoyed by demand and opportunity, but increasingly defined by a split between those able to invest and adapt, and those struggling to keep pace.
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The Federal Budget may have softened some of its proposed tax reforms, but it has exposed a bigger issue: too many families are relying on wealth structures that no longer reflect the realities of modern life.
3 min
For many Australians, the 2026 Federal Budget initially felt like a direct challenge to the way wealth is created, held and transferred between generations.
The headlines were immediate: changes to capital gains tax, reforms to discretionary trusts, restrictions on negative gearing and increased scrutiny of investment structures. Unsurprisingly, affluent families, business owners and investors began asking the same question:
Is the way we hold our wealth still fit for purpose?
In recent days, the government has announced several significant amendments following industry consultation and public feedback, including exempting testamentary trusts from the proposed 30 per cent minimum tax and expanding capital gains tax concessions for small businesses.
The backdown is welcome. But it also highlights something much bigger.
This Budget has accelerated a conversation that many Australian families have been postponing for years.
The conversation is not really about tax. It is about wealth stewardship.
For decades, Australians have built wealth through businesses, property, investments and careful long-term planning. Yet many families have not revisited the legal structures surrounding those assets in years, sometimes decades.
We often see clients who have spent years building significant wealth, only to discover their legal arrangements no longer reflect their current circumstances.
Their children are now adults. They may own multiple properties.
They may have sold a business, entered a second marriage, become grandparents or accumulated digital assets that did not exist when their original estate plans were prepared.
The trust that distributes income may need to be reconsidered. The bucket company may no longer be so attractive.
The Budget has simply exposed a reality that already existed: wealth structures cannot remain static while life continues to evolve.
Importantly, trusts themselves are not the issue.
Trusts are legitimate planning tools that provide flexibility, protection and continuity. When used appropriately, they allow families to adapt to changing circumstances over time.
And neither is tax the issue, really. Getting the fundamentals right is more important for long-term, sustainable wealth than a few favourable tax treatments around the edges.
The real issue is complacency.
Too often, families create structures and assume the job is done. It isn’t.
Estate planning is no longer a document you sign once and file away in a drawer. It is an ongoing process that should evolve alongside your life.
We are also seeing a broader shift in how Australians define wealth itself. It is no longer just the family home and an investment portfolio.
Modern wealth includes businesses, digital assets, cryptocurrency, intellectual property, frequent flyer points and increasingly complex family arrangements.
At the same time, Australians are living longer than ever before, meaning wealth may need to support multiple generations simultaneously. This creates new responsibilities and new risks.
How do you help your children enter the property market without exposing family wealth to relationship breakdowns?
How do you structure wealth so that it remains a source of opportunity rather than future conflict?
These are the questions families should be asking now.
The recent debate surrounding testamentary trusts also serves as an important reminder that policy decisions can have unintended consequences for vulnerable Australians. It is encouraging that the government has listened to feedback and clarified its position.
But the lesson remains: the wealth landscape is changing.
Increasingly, governments, regulators and tax authorities are paying closer attention to how wealth is held and transferred. That means families cannot afford to adopt a “set-and-forget” approach to their structures.
The families who will be best placed for the future are not necessarily those with the greatest wealth.
They are the families with the greatest clarity. Clarity around ownership, succession and governance. And clarity around how wealth will transition from one generation to the next.
Ultimately, preserving wealth is not about avoiding change.
It is about preparing for it.
Because the greatest risk is not change itself.
It is losing the ability to respond to it.
Anthony Hunt is Co-Founder of Wealth Lawyers and former COO of Westpac Private Bank. He advises business owners, investors and affluent Australian families on wealth protection, succession planning and intergenerational wealth transfer
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