Hotel room rates in Halifax jump above national average

HALIFAX -

If you think it’s costing you more to book a hotel in the Maritimes this summer, chances are, you’re probably right.

“For the first six months of this year room rates in Canada are roughly $189 Canadian, and that is up 15 per cent compared to the first six months of last year,” explains Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar.

Discover Halifax says demand is so high in the city, it’s causing room rates to spike even higher.

Hotel room rates have increased by 20 per cent in Halifax. Experts believe it’s due to a number of large events in the region as the market adjusts to supply and demand.

“We’ve really seen events return to Nova Scotia,” says Anna Moran of Tourism Nova Scotia. “We just finished the North American Indigenous Games, and we have the buskers here now.”

Moran adds the city is seeing more visitors coming from father away, particularly Ontario and overseas.

The influx of people visiting the province began last year.

“What we saw across the province was an overall increase in the room rate being charged,” she says. “There was an increase in Halifax and outside of the Halifax-area.”

According to the director of hospitality analytics at CoStar, inflation has a lot to do with hotel prices, and it will be some time before we see a decrease in room costs.

“Room rates are very, very closely linked with inflation,” Freitag explains. “So you tell me where you think inflation goes, and I’ll tell you when I think prices are going to come down.”