Price Trends Show Worldwide Increase in Room Rates

By Theodore Koumelis

Cities in the north of the UK have seen room rates soar in 2012, according to HRS' recent Hotel Price Radar. HRS compared hotel room prices in ten cities across the UK and the rest of the world in 2012 with prices from the previous year.

The average room rate in London increased by over four per cent compared to 2011 — perhaps not as great an increase as first expected. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and the imminent approach of the Olympics, fuelled tourism in the capital and pushed hotel prices up in the first half of 2012. Post Olympics, hotels priced themselves competitively again, to encourage business travellers back into the city in the aftermath of the Games. Glasgow was the only city to experience a price decrease — good news for spectators looking to travel to the region ahead of the Commonwealth Games next year.

Hotel prices in the UK:

Table 1: Average price in Pounds Sterling per room per night in a hotel in UK cities

Worldwide, Rio de Janeiro has come out top with travellers paying an average of €185.80 per night for a hotel room. The cheapest hotel stays were once again in Bangkok with an average rate of less than 57.99 euros per room per night.

There were large differences in price trends between the various major European cities. Prices fell in more than half of the cities — including Moscow and Zurich, traditionally the most expensive destinations in the continent. In Moscow, room rates fell by around three per cent to just under 146 euros. In spite of falling prices, Zurich still managed to top the list of most expensive cities in Europe for the second year running, with London nosing into third place after an important year for the UK capital. One factor, amongst others, was that increased demand during the summer Olympics led to a price rise for the whole year of around four per cent to an average of 135 euros. Visitors to Paris paid around four Euros less. Here the average per-night price for a hotel room increased by more than five per cent to 131 euros.

HRS noted that sharpest price increase in Europe was in Helsinki, in part due to a period of continual economic growth. A hotel room in the Finnish capital cost an average of 118 euros in the past year – almost eight per cent more than in 2011. In Istanbul, an increase in business travel and a high demand for city breaks led to an increase of over six per cent in room prices to nearly 92 euros per night.

Table 2: Average price in Euros per room per night in a hotel in large European cities

High demand for business travel has led to room rates increasing in many major cities across the globe. Hotel prices rose sharply in the Asia-Pacific region; in particular in Hong Kong, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Dubai. The South Korean economy continued to grow and attracted an increasing number of foreign business travellers to Seoul, with the average room rate rising to just under 150 euros per night. Beijing experienced a similarly high price increase of nearly 15 per cent to 67 euros per room per night.

Against the background of preparations for the football World Cup in 2014, and an improved infrastructure, hotel room rates in Rio rose by almost eight per cent to nearly 186 euros, making the Brazilian capital the most expensive in terms of room rates and pushing New York into second place.

Table 3: Average price in Euros per room for hotel accommodation in the top destinations worldwide

Source: Travel Daily News