After seven consecutive quarters of declining hotel room rates, the average price of a hotel room around the world rose 2% in the second quarter of 2010, according to the Hotels.com® Hotel Price Index™ (HPI®).
The HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room (rather than advertised rates) for 91,500 hotels across 15,750 locations around the world.
While it’s not great news for travellers, it is for the beleaguered hotel industry, which says the past couple of years have been the worst in its history. But the rising rates are mitigated by two important factors.
The first is that hotel pricing had fallen so low in 2009 that despite a modest increase this year, the average price of a room is still lower than in 2004. And for Canadian travellers, our strong dollar is delivering real benefits. This year’s favourable exchange rate meant that Canadian travellers actually reduced their average hotel room spend in major destination.
This was particularly true in Europe, where the Canadian dollar has risen sharply against the Euro. Canadians paid 24% less for a hotel room in Budapest this year than last, 21% less in Dublin and between 14% and 18% in Prague, Athens, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Lisbon. This comes despite the fact that room rates actually rose slightly in some of those destinations.
Hotels.com President David Roche commented: "Hotel pricing trends, up to the end of Q2 2010 confirm that stabilization has indeed been under way in the hotel industry, and that there are hints of a recovery. Hotel prices appear to have hit the bottom in the first half of 2010, and have lately trended up.
If indeed we're seeing the beginning of a true recovery, it is an uneven recovery, and one starting from a low base. Prices remain at levels not seen since 2004 in much of the developed world - the Asia-Pacific region is the only one to show any significant growth."
For domestic travellers, there may be some notable increases. The statistics reveal that Canadian cities had some of the highest rate increases globally in the first half of 2010 compared to last year. Montreal and Vancouver ranked second and third respectively, behind Singapore. Prices were up in Montreal by 7% year-over-year with an average room rate of $145; while in Vancouver, room rates were up 4% to $147.Toronto hotel prices were also up 4% to $133, ranking 6th overall. Singapore hotel rates had the largest year-over-year increase at 10%.
The most expensive Canadian destinations for domestic travellers are the mountain resorts of Mont Tremblant, Lake Louise, Whistler, Jasper and Banff.
