WORLDWIDE Last year’s global hotel price increase was the first time that the average booked rate on discount online travel agency Hotels.com rose year-on-year since 2007. However, prices fell so low during 2009 after a 13% drop that despite last year’s modest increase, the average price of a room worldwide is still the same now as it was in 2004.
“After the worst trading conditions most in the market had seen, the 2010 story shows a market in recovery,” says Hotels.com President David Roche. “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.”
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 stabilized in Europe, Hotels.com reports.
India was a bright spot for rate growth, with the average cost of a hotel room there rising 2% to US$147 per night in 2010. Booked rates showed particular resiliency in New Delhi, where they rose 11% on average to US$158, as both business and leisure travel picked up. Mumbai also posted strong numbers, growing 7% to an average of US$173.
In Asia overall, the average Hotels.com rate declined 2% year over year in 2010 to US$115. That is about 15% higher than average rates in 2004, the first year the OTA began tracking.
The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index is a regular survey of hotel prices in major destinations and is based on actual bookings made on Hotels.com. Approximately 110,000 properties in more than 18,000 locations make up the sample set of hotels from which prices are taken.