Moscow remains the world's
most expensive city for business travelers in terms of hotel stays, even as
European hotel rates generally are stabilizing amid the region's sovereign debt
crisis, according to an HRG report covering the first six months of 2012. Rates
in several key North American and Latin American cities, meanwhile, have spiked
significantly.
Moscow rates were up 3
percent year over year in local currency, placing its hotel costs well above those
of Lagos, Nigeria, which ranked as second-most expensive. Geneva, Zurich, Rio
de Janeiro, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Paris and Washington, D.C. rounded out
the top ten.
The survey, which
measured hotel rates from January through June based on industry data and
actual rates paid by HRG clients, showed first-half rates on a global basis had
not increased as much year-over-year in 2012 as they had in 2011.
"We're not seeing
as many of the huge fluctuations in room rates as in previous years, with the
wider economic situation undoubtedly playing some part in contributing to the
leveling out of hotel rates in some key destinations," according to HRG group
commercial director Stewart Harvey. "In fact, Rio and São Paulo are the only key global cities to have
seen a double-digit [percentage] rise in hotel room rates," based on local
currency.
On a regional basis, the
average rate in constant-currency terms was up in the United Kingdom, the
Americas and Eastern Asia, and were down in Europe, the Middle East, Western
Asia and Africa.
"Just as we saw in
2011, the shift in hotel rate growth from Europe to Asia and Latin America is
continuing to gather pace," according to HRG director of global hotel
relations Margaret Bowler. "As Europe feels the effects of the sovereign
debt crisis, business travelers are prioritizing travel to areas of continued
growth and consider higher hotel costs an acceptable expense."
In constant currency,
rates increased the most in Mexico City (20 percent), San Francisco (11
percent), Dubai (10 percent), Houston (10 percent) and Liverpool (8 percent).
Increased demand combined with slow infrastructure growth contributed to Mexico
City's rise, according to Harvey, while San Francisco has seen a strong
convention market but few new hotels.
Rates in constant
currency decreased most in Bangalore (down 30 percent), Barcelona (26 percent),
Munich (20 percent), Mumbai (18 percent) and Istanbul (16 percent). Indian
hotel rates overall have been dropping as the country's economy slows, and
Barcelona's drop largely was caused by a mixture of the debt crisis, a slowdown
in Spanish domestic business travel and a large hotel capacity, according to
HRG.