European hotel prices have fallen once again, with the average room rate on the continent falling by 12% to just £97 per night, says a report in TravelDailyNews.
Hotel prices in European cities have dropped considerably, with the Italian cities of Florence (down 30%), Rome (down 31%) and Venice (down 44%) seeing the biggest price drops, according to data provided by Trivago.co.uk. The prices given represent the average cost of one night’s stay in a standard double room at city hotels on the continent.
What is interesting is that although European hotel prices remain more expensive than one year ago, rates have dropped considerably in the last month. 41 out of 50 cities listed in Trivago’s Hotel Price Index (HPI) for November saw their average room rates drop markedly when compared with the previous month.
Southern Europe in particular seems to be more affected. Virtually all southern European cities on the HPI saw the cost of hotel rooms drop in November. Aside from crisis-hit Italy, room rates in cities like Granada (down 23%), Istanbul (down 22%), Lisbon (down 28%) and Prague (down 27%) all dropped.
Trivago also provided data on UK hotels accommodating to business travelers to that country. It found that overall, UK hotel rates had increased over the last year, most noticeably in the cities of London (up 33%), Manchester (up 35%), Birmingham (up 23%) and Dublin (up 16%). However, many hotels in the UK also experienced a price drop in their room rates when compared to October, especially in Edinburgh (down 8%), Cardiff (down 7%) and Dublin (down 10%), although it’s thought these changes are seasonal.
Not all European cities were affected by the price drops however, as there were some notable exceptions to the downward trend. Bucharest saw prices rise by 5%, while Birmingham and Copenhagen both saw increases of 2% in their room rates.
Overall, the most expensive hotels in Europe were in the cities of Geneva (£197 a night), London (£177 a night) and Oslo (£153 a night). So, despite the near constant whine of positive economic news, the fact remains that travel and other industries will need to look to other models to stay afloat. That is, or else rooms may end up being free period?
