Hotel Room Costs Same As 7 Years Ago
Average hotel price mirrors slow economic recovery rising just 2% in 2010
The average cost of a hotel room around the world rose 2% in 2010, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).
The increase was the first time that the average hotel room price rose year-on-year since 2007.
However, prices fell so low during 2009 after a 13% drop that despite last years modest increase, the average price of a room is still the same now as it was in 2004.
While prices in all regions were either flat or down year-on-year in the first half of 2010, the average annual price went up 1% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2% in North America and had stabilised in Europe.
However, despite declining 2%, the average price of a hotel room in Asia was still 15% higher than when the Hotel Price Index began in 2004.
David Roche, President of Hotels.com, comments: "After the worst trading conditions most in the market had seen, the 2010 story shows a market in recovery.
"However, since the fall was so prolonged and steep, guests were still roughly paying for a hotel night what they would have done six or seven years ago.
"Whilst the high volume of promotions we saw in the depth of the crisis has dried up somewhat, there are still deals to be had."
The Hotels.com HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com and tracks the real prices paid per hotel room (rather than advertised rates) for 110,000 hotels across more than 18,000 locations around the world. The latest HPI looks at prices in 2010 compared to those in 2009.
