Return of business travel boosts global hotel prices
The return of the corporate traveller is helping to boost the recovery of the hotel market, with an increase in occupancies and room rates in key markets, according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).
Renewed corporate demand during 2010 helped to contribute to the 2% rise in the average price of a global hotel night - the first year-on-year increase since 2007. The Hotels.com HPI shows the average cost of a hotel room in the UK also rose 2% between 2009 and 2010 to £83 per night.
Room rates have risen at a higher rate than the average in many of Europe's financial centres, as a result of increased corporate business. Rates during 2010 were up 14% in Frankfurt, 10% in London, 9% in Amsterdam and 8% in Paris.
Further afield, in emerging economies, the rise in room rates was even greater - 41% in Sao Paulo, 33% in Shanghai and 28% in Rio de Janerio.
Back in the UK, an increase in room prices in Bracknell (up 18%) and Reading (up 15%) indicate increased corporate demand and more relaxed staff travel restrictions along the M4 IT corridor.
However, despite last year's welcome increase, the average global room rate is still the same now as it was in 2004 due to the dramatic drop in rates during 2009.
The Hotels.com HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com, an online booking site which is part of the Expedia group, and tracks the real prices paid per hotel room (rather than advertised rates) for 110,000 hotels in 18,000 locations worldwide.
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By Janet Harmer
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