Guests heading to Europe and the U.S. need to dig deeper in their pockets when paying for hotels. Asian and Latin American hotels on the other hand decreased their rates in the first half of 2014.
115 Euros per night for a hotel room – this is the average price of hotels around the world for the first half of 2014. The price is 4% higher compared to the same period of 2013, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index. The index lists the prices in 71 countries showing that there was an increase in prices in 37 countries, a decrease in 29 countries, and in 5 countries the rates remained stable.
Most hotels that raised the prices were in Europe and USA. Guests in the Eurozone now have to pay more especially in Greece (+15%), United Kingdom (+9%) and France (+5%). On the contrary, the countries that reported the greatest decline in hotel rates were those in Asia and Latin America. Thanks to the political crisis in Ukraine and Russia, the local room prices fell by 13 and 10% respectively.
Similarly in Asia, the rates went down by 11% in Thailand because of political instability, 10% in Indonesia due to currency devaluation, and 8% in Singapore because of the decrease in the amount of Chinese visitors. China however reported rising prices – by 10%.
Regarding the rest of the world, the average hotel prices decreased in all six Latin American countries, including Brazil and Argentina. Australian rates went down by 11% because of the weak dollar and North Africa improved with a growth of 8% in Morocco and 7% in Tunisia.
Maldives, Seychelles and Monaco are the most expensive destinations in the list compiled by Hotels.com – the hotel room prices per night reach 363, 293, and 200 Euros here. At the opposite end of the rankings were Thailand (65 Euro), Vietnam (54 Euro) and Cambodia (45 Euro). Among the destinations reaching the central positions were Switzerland, with average rates equal to 149 Euros, USA (127 Euros), South Africa (110 Euros), Germany with prices around 100 Euros, and Japan with 96 Euros.