Hotel rates in SA are lower now than pre-Covid, data shows

Posted by Anita Froneman on 8 July 2022

South Africa’s accommodation sector is working hard to attract domestic and international visitors – and travellers appear to be totally on board.

Picture: Steenberg hotel, Cape Town

New data released by travel search engine Cheapflights.co.za revealed that travellers to and in South Africa are finding great deals for hotels, sometimes even for nearly half the price for upcoming months than in the equivalent period in 2019. And, searches for SA’s hotels jumped by about seven-fold (661%) in the last two weeks of June compared to pre-pandemic levels.

‘In what is clearly an industry-wide effort to ease the traveller market back into taking inter-provincial holidays and business trips, we have noted significant hotel price decreases over the South African winter travel period, in which the school holidays fall,’ says Lauren Bornet, General Manager for Cheapflights.

Here are some other key findings.

Durban takes the lead in hotel searches

According to the data, the top ten most-searched-for South African destinations, in order, were Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Sun City, East London, Umhlanga, Pietermaritzburg, Bloemfontein and Kimberley.

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The Durban Harbour

Travellers are scouting for hotel deals in Durban for about 35% lower in price than three years ago, with the average hotel price landing at about R1 120 per night.

‘With flight searches to Durban from other SA cities being about 126% up in June compared to the pre-pandemic period, the difficult flooding period that affected much of the city a few months ago doesn’t seem to have dampened travellers’ love for this warm ocean destination,’ says Bornet.

In Cape Town, the average hotel price paid by Cheapflight travellers is 43% less compared to the same period in 2019 and hovers at R1 540 per night.

This winter, holidaymakers find hotel deals in Johannesburg that are 38% down compared to pre-pandemic levels and land at an average rate of about R1 230 per night. But, interestingly, the City Of Gold’s close neighbour, Pretoria, reached the lowest average per-night hotel rate across the top five SA travel destinations.

‘Average hotel prices found in Pretoria are as low as R670 per overnight stay,’ says Bornet. ‘Being a 45-minute drive from Johannesburg, the business hub of the country and tourist hotspot, travellers could save a lot of money by booking accommodation in Pretoria, then hiring a rental car or taking the Gautrain into the city for business meetings or to see some of the city’s sights and buzzing culture.’

Number five on the top most-searched-for-destinations, Sun City, is great to find deals too as travellers from all over the world are searching for hotels where they pay 31% less than three years ago. A popular destination within easy driving distance from Johannesburg, Sun City is highly favoured as a quick family getaway, or as a meeting and events destination.

More SA travellers are opting for luxury

Cheapflights has also spotted a transition between star-rated hotel searches since the pandemic  – travellers have been searching less for four-star hotels and searches for five-star hotels have increased.

Picture: &Beyond

For the period under review in 2022, one-third of SA’s travellers (about 33%) are looking at five-star hotels for travelling in winter, with the beachfront, pool and wifi being the top three accommodation amenities most often filtered.

Note: Overall hotel searches and the list of the most searched hotel destinations are based on hotel searches made on Cheapflights.co.za in the period between 17 and 30 June 2022 for stays in South Africa within the next 180 days of search date.

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