Hotel rates globally fell by 0.4% year-on-year, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index. However while prices in the US and the rest of the world fell, Europe and Asia experienced a price increase.The Hotels.com HPI is based on prices for hotels sold in 2007, compared to 2006 and is said to be the most comprehensive and accurate source of global hotel pricing information. It is based on prices for 60,000 hotels across 6,500 locations around the world and on the actual prices paid by customers, rather than simply advertised rates. Full details of the Hotel Price Index can be found at http://www.hotels.co.uk/press/gb/.

David Roche, senior vice president, of Hotels.com EMEA, comments: “The new HPI shows that although Hotel prices around the world remained static in 2007, Europe and Asia saw their average prices rise, bucking this trend. A market with flat or slowly rising prices can be great news for consumers, with more attractive offers available around the world.”

 

Prices across all European destinations rose by 4.5% during 2007. The overall rise in prices reflects the rising popularity of Europe as a destination – with prices up in most of the major city destinations including Venice (£125), London (£115), Rome (£104) and Edinburgh (£103).

 

Asian hotel prices also rose slightly in 2007, by 3.3%. The price rises were driven by big price rises in destinations such as Singapore (up 22% to £88), Jakarta (up 25% to £67) and Bali (up 7% to £72).

 

On the other hand, The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index also shows that, outside of New York, US cities had some of the cheapest rooms in the world. Prices across the country were down 2.2% on the same period 12 months before. This made the US more than 15% cheaper on average than Europe over the course of the year.
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