Hotels.com reveals world hotel rates have dropped

Hotels.com has revealed that world hotel prices have dropped by an average of 17% over the last year with rooms in Moscow now up to a third (33%) cheaper than in 2008.

Whatever the stereotypes, the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) reveals the true cost of a hotel room underlining that, whatever the reason for travel, there has never been a better time to leave the UK in search of a global bargain. While the general trend was for prices to drop, prices were up by as much as 20% in Tel Aviv, by 15% in Istanbul and by 15% in Abu Dhabi.

The cheapest hotel rooms on the planet range from Mexico City and Las Vegas at an average of £49 and £53 respectively, through to emerging international stag-do hotspots Riga (£55 on average) and Tallinn (£61 on average).

Alternatively, for those with bigger budgets, despite a drop of more than a third (36%), Moscow remains one of the most expensive cities in the world with hotel prices reaching on average £167 a night. However, not even a hotel overlooking the Kremlin can top the rising cost of Abu Dhabi which leads the Index of most expensive hotel rooms for the first time by being just £17 shy of the £200 mark at an average of £173 per night.

Closer to home, prices rose in just two major Eurozone capitals in the first half of the year, rising 2% in both Rome and Paris to an average of £110 and £109 respectively.

The average cost of a hotel room in the US also started to come down, according to the Hotel Price Index. UK travellers spent 6% less for New York hotels than they did in the first half of 2008 as prices averaged £139 from £149 in 2008.

The HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room (rather than advertised rates) for 78,000 hotels across 13,000 locations around the world. The latest HPI looks at prices from January to June 2009, compared to the same period in 2008.

Alison Couper, communications director of Hotels.com, said: "Despite the relative weakness of sterling to the euro and the dollar, the Hotels.com HPI has shown that Britons can still enjoy some tremendous bargains abroad. Hotel rates are down year on year across most destinations in Europe, and typically expensive places such as New York and Moscow have never been more affordable."

Prices in UK followed the worldwide trend with hotels in London dropping by 12%, Edinburgh hotels going down by 9% and Belfast rooms dropping by 29%. Across the Irish Sea, hotels in Dublin lowered their prices by an average of 11%.

About Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com offers more than 100,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide. If a customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the industry negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are 1.3m reviews from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers make an informed choice when booking. Hotels.com won the Gold Award for best hotel booking site in Webuser magazine in February 2009.

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