Austin Hotel Industry Revved Up Profits During Formula 1 Event

AUSTIN, TX — This past weekend's Formula 1 race spectacle revved up the city's economy, with motor sports aficionados from all over the world descending onto Circuit of the Americas to take in the event. Among the economic impact biggest winners were the city's hotels.

HotelsCombined, one of the world’s leading hotel price comparison platforms, analyzed hotel bookings and prices given the influx of tourists who traveled to Austin this past weekend, from Oct. 20-22. According to their study, bookings in Austin over the weekend increased by 105% compared to next weekend. Prices also increased by 32 percent, researchers found.

Formula 1 enthusiasts paid an average of $251 per night for a hotel room, compared to $190 on average next weekend, HotelsCombined found. However, analysts noted that prices were down -5% in comparison to the same period last year.

Looking more closely at the numbers, downtown hotels in are far more expensive than Austin’s average with hotels costing an average of $512 per night. But those higher rates hardly deterred travelers from visiting, with Austin’s hotel occupancy rate sitting at 87% for the weekend as of a few days prior to the event.

As part of their research, HotelsCombined pulled hotel prices to illustrate the price difference week on week.

Hotel name and room/ Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd/Friday 27th – Sunday 29th

InterContinental Stephen F Austin/Double king size bed, bed and breakfast/$1,649/$910

The Westin Austin Downtown/Deluxe room/$1,935/$931

The Driskill/Room with 2 queen beds, city view/ $1,630/$1,469

Kimpton Hotel Van Zadt/Deluxe king/$1,608/$794

AT&T Hotel & Conference Center/Standard, double bed/$1,675/$675

Element Austin Downtown/King suite/$1,343/$1,021

Hotel Granduca Austin/Superior room, hill view/$1,078/$680

Doubletree by Hilton Austin/Standard room/$923/$403

(Sign up for Patch newsletters and breaking news alerts by clicking here.)

>>> Image via Shutterstock