Racing for a Hotel Room: How Formula 1 Grand Prix Weekend Drives Hotel Rates to Triple
As Formula 1 has started into another thrilling season, Simon-Kucher examines its impact on hotel pricing trends.
[Melbourne, Australia] – Simon-Kucher, a leading growth consultancy, unveils hotel pricing trends in Formula 1 (F1) host cities during Grand Prix (GP) weekends. Drawing insights from 2,800 hotels across 24 GP destinations, the study highlights F1’s impact on the tourism sector, illustrating how race weekends become high-impact events for both fans and hoteliers.
As the season kicks off, a third of hotels (32 percent) across all host cities are already sold out, highlighting strong global demand and the importance of booking early. “Understanding these spikes and volatility in demand are critical for hoteliers to successfully capture consumers’ willingness-to-pay," says Amelie Spaniol, Director at Simon-Kucher.
Hotel price ranking grid:
- Australia takes the pole position for APAC: With rates exceeding $800 per night, Melbourne has the highest average rate in APAC.
- Canada leads the overall grid: With the average rate per night 3.5x higher than the one in Melbourne, Canada clearly takes the lead.
- China offers more affordable options: With average rates below $250 per night, China provides the most affordable stay for cost-conscious travellers.
Hotel surge ranking grid:
- Azerbaijan’s GP leads in price hikes: Its average rate nearly quadruples, followed closely by Japan (+276 percent) – Australia takes the third place on the podium for APAC (+193 percent).
- Premium destinations see more moderate increases: Locations with regular rates above $500 per night, such as Miami, Italy, and Abu Dhabi, experience price hikes of less than 100 percent.
- China bucks the trend: Despite being the most affordable destination, China experiences only a modest five percent increase during race weekend.
“The tourism sector is seizing the opportunity to capitalise on major [sporting] events like the Grand Prix," comments Simon Hess, Director at Simon-Kucher. “Hoteliers in Melbourne, which is hosting further major sporting events like the Australian Opens, the AFL Grand Final, and Melbourne Cup, are a big benefactor of this trend, as similar price hikes would be expected for events similar to the Grand Prix “. To fully leverage these opportunities, it is essential to track demand closely and adjust pricing in real time. A dynamic and agile approach will enable hotels to maximise value during these demand surges.
Complete study findings are available upon request.
About the research: the analysis by Simon-Kucher covers prices from over 2,800 hotels across the 24 Grand Prix host destinations ahead of 2025 season.
For further information please contact:
Amelie Spaniol
Email: amelie.spaniol@simon-kucher.com
Simon Hess
Email: simon.hess@simon-kucher.com
About Simon-Kucher
Simon-Kucher is a global consultancy with more than 2,000 employees in 31 countries. Our sole focus is on unlocking better growth that drives measurable revenue and profit for our clients. We achieve this by optimising every lever of their commercial strategy – product, price, innovation, marketing, and sales – based on deep insights into what customers want and value. With 40 years of experience in monetisation topics of all kinds, we are regarded as the world’s leading pricing and growth specialist.
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