Ovation Figures Show Global Hotel Rate Crash

Corporate travelers paid on average 17.4 percent less in hotels in 30 key global cities in the first quarter of 2009, year over year, and travel buyers saw double-digit percentage decreases in more than half of those cities, according to a survey released this week by Ovation Travel Group.

The survey, based on 92,000 room nights booked by Ovation clients at three-, four- and five-star properties, showed fare declines in 26 of 30 cities surveyed, including all 12 in the United States. Twenty cities—including New York, Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Paris, Singapore and Toronto—had rate decreases higher than 20 percent.

New York, where rates decreased by 29.6 percent from $403.73 to $284.05, showed the sharpest decrease of the 12 U.S. cities. Both Atlanta and Chicago showed rate decreases of about 19 percent, and rates in Boston and Philadelphia decreased by just below 16 percent. Activity around the presidential inauguration boosted Washington, D.C., above New York to become the most expensive city in the United States for the quarter with an average rate of $292.51, but even that was down 2.7 percent from 2008 levels, the survey indicated.

Globally, Singapore saw the sharpest drop in rates, down 35.2 percent from $364.58 in 2008 to $236.40 in 2009. Delhi's decrease was the next steepest, with a 31.8 percent drop, followed by Paris, where rates dropped 29.2 percent, and London, where rates decreased by 26.2 percent.

The only four cities to see rate increases were Abu Dhabi, Dublin, Milan and Tokyo, according to the data. Abu Dhabi's increase of 33.7 percent catapulted it to become the most expensive city in the survey, with an average rate of $543.68. Rate increases in the other three cities were more modest: Dublin was up 6.2 percent, Milan was up 5.1 percent and Tokyo was up 3.2 percent.