New research by HRS, The Hotel Solutions Provider, has revealed that London has become Europe’s most expensive capital to stay in, seeing an increase of more than 13% compared to Q1 2013 and average room rates reaching nearly £116 – placing the UK’s capital ahead of Zurich and Moscow which both have average room rates of £111 per room (€135).
Whilst London also remains the most expensive UK city for its average room rate per night, Edinburgh is the second most expensive in the UK (£89), with the city seeing a significant increase of almost 12% in average room rates against Q1 2013. Interestingly, Dublin has increased its average room rate to over 14%.
For those after a bargain, the cheapest room can be found in Liverpool which saw a decrease in room rates of nearly 5% compared to Q1 2013, with average room rates totalling an average of £69 per night.
Overall, UK hotel rates increased in the past year, alongside forecasts remaining upbeat for the UK economy which suggests that 2014 can once again be met with similar optimism for the UK’s hotel industry.
| Top Destinations | Average room rate per night 1* – 5* per night Q1 2014 in £s | Rate development compared to Q1 2013 in % |
| UK & Ireland | ||
| Birmingham | £78.58 | 13.97% |
| Bristol | £85.70 | 3.13% |
| Cardiff | £82.26 | 2.44% |
| Dublin | £77.50 | 14.21% |
| Edinburgh | £88.77 | 11.67% |
| Glasgow | £70.87 | 6.80% |
| Leeds | £79.30 | 10.73% |
| Liverpool | £69.12 | -4.52% |
| London | £115.62 | 13.12% |
| Manchester | £83.34 | 6.60% |
London, Zurich and Moscow are the most expensive in Europe
In Europe, with an increase of more than 13% London has stolen the top spot from Zurich which now is on a par with Moscow, both averaging €135 per room per night. Figures showed that Moscow’s average room rate dropped by 7% and Zurich dropped by nearly 2% against Q1 2013.
City travellers found the most inexpensive room rates in Budapest – finding room rates averaging just €66. Research also showed that visitors to Prague, Warsaw and Lisbon can also take advantage of more moderate room rates and maximise travel expenditure.
Istanbul, Moscow and Oslo also had slightly less expensive room rates than a year before, where the room rates decreased by around seven per cent in these cities. After London, the largest increase in room rates was seen in Athens (€81), Warsaw (€76) and Milan (€108), where the room rates increased by 14% for the Greek capital, and around 11 per cent for the other two capitals.
Sydney the global frontrunner, followed by New York and Los Angeles
Hotel room rates decreased in around two thirds of international cities. Whilst it is the city with the most expensive room rate with an average of £143 per night, Sydney had a decrease of 12 per cent. Toronto followed behind with a decrease of 11 per cent on the average room rates. Meanwhile, Mexico City (+12 per cent) and Delhi (+11 per cent) are now more expensive.
Hotel owners in Sydney set their rates at an average of £142 per night, followed by New York (£126) and Los Angeles (£123). For one night’s stay in Sydney, travellers could have booked nearly three nights in Delhi (£47).
| Top DestinationsInternational | Average room rate per night 1* – 5* per night Q1 2014 in £s | Rate development compared to Q1 2013 in % |
| Bangkok | £49.48 | -9.60% |
| Buenos Aires | £68.60 | 2.11% |
| Cairo | £58.92 | 5.89% |
| Delhi | £468.88 | 11.09% |
| Doha | £108.17 | 1.19% |
| Hong Kong | £107.25 | -8.03% |
| Los Angeles | £122.50 | 8.76% |
| Mexico City | £66.66 | 12.38% |
| Miami | £113.09 | -1.04% |
| Montreal | £78.94 | 3.33% |
| New York | £125.83 | -1.32% |
| Peking | £57.61 | -4.15% |
| Seoul | £101.31 | -7.01% |
| Shanghai | £53.23 | -4.54% |
| Singapore | £113.04 | -4.20% |
| Sydney | £142.78 | -12.62% |
| Tel Aviv | £95.32 | -4.32% |
| Tokyo | £111.87 | -2.34% |
| Toronto | £75.90 | -11.19% |
| Washington | £119.10 | -2.58% |
Table 3: Average room rate per night for hotel stays in top destinations around the world
HRS – The Hotel Solutions Provider
HRS is a global hotel solutions provider and offers its more than 40,000 corporate customers worldwide a variety of tools and services free of charge, which cover the whole value chain – from hotel procurement, over booking transactions and innovative payment solutions to the transmission of relevant data for the analysis of the accommodation expenses. HRS individually looks after its customers and develops perfectly tailored solutions that facilitate travel management. Intelligent complete solutions for conference and group bookings complete the offered services.
With more than 250,000 hotels in 190 countries, HRS offers a big selection of hotels worldwide. These include, among hundreds of hotel chains, also roughly 150,000 privately held hotels. 300 Hotel Sales Managers contribute with their knowledge of the local market to a high availability of the hotels and an ideal customer service.
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