Hotel room rates may rise on gas crisis

The higher price of purchasing gas through the state government's online bulletin board could bump up the price of hotel rooms as one of WA's largest linen service providers passes on the cost.

Belmont-based Prime Laundry, through a Tourism WA statement, said it had purchased gas via the online scheme to allow it to continue to supply linen to hotels this week.

As a result, Prime, which services about 85 per cent of accommodation providers in the metropolitan and South West regions, estimated room rates could increase by up to $7 for each room.

"As Prime has purchased the gas at a higher price than usual, it assesses that it will need to pass on the costs to hotels," the statement said.

"Linen is a small part of the cost of a hotel room, so hotel prices will not change significantly should hotels decide to pass the costs on to consumers.

"Prime estimates that the price increase equates to an additional $5-$7 per room change."

Prime said it will continue to bid for gas via the bulletin board for the next four weeks, and will assess its pricing on an ongoing basis.

Last week, the Tourism Industry said Prime had been without gas for three days and accommodation providers faced the prospect of no clean sheets this week.

Today Tourism WA said contrary to media reports, hotels were not closing rooms or turning guests away due to the gas shortage.

Last month the state's gas supply was cut by a third following a pipeline rupture at the Varanus Island gas facility.