Global hotel prices fall three percent in Q3 2008

The average price for hotel rooms across the world fell over the summer, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index. This is the first year-on-year fall in prices measured in any quarter since the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index started in January 2004.

The Hotels.com HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room. The average price paid by travellers for a room during the period July-September 2008 fell by three percent globally, when compared to the same period in 2007.

However, the weakness of the Pound over the course of Q3 2008 meant that UK travellers have yet to feel the effect of the global fall in hotel costs. In fact, a combination of slight real price rises in Europe (which bucked the global trend) and the stronger Euro meant that, for UK travellers, average prices in some European destinations have risen by as much as 30 percent, according to the company.

David Roche, president, Hotels.com Worldwide, said, "Hotels in the Americas in particular have been feeling the effects of the wider global downturn for the past six to nine months and we have seen extensive price-cutting already. US hoteliers may have to cut prices further to maintain occupancy in the months to come. In Europe, by contrast, hoteliers have had to cut less, with a reasonably strong summer performance - the traditional European travel peak - helping them to maintain their rates. However, European prices are now starting to come down and there are likely to be an increasing number of good deals to be found across the continent's major travel destinations over the course of 2009."

The three percent drop in prices globally was driven by falls in room prices across North America (where prices fell by five percent), Latin America (where prices were down one percent) and the Caribbean (prices down four percent). Prices in Asia, meanwhile, were flat. In Europe, prices were up by two percent as hoteliers defied the general trend, maintaining prices during the summer months.

While UK travellers missed out on many of the benefits of falling hotel prices in Q3 2008 there were still some destinations where prices fell for them too despite the weak Pound.

Source: TravelDailyNews