average hotel rates for 2009 are down 4.31 percent versus 2008

An Ovation Travel Group survey of 400 properties found that . The travel management company poll included three-, four- and five-star properties and found that the average international decline (4.67 percent) was greater than the average domestic decline (3.2 percent). "Hopefully these lowered rates will serve as something of a relief to our clients' pocketbooks and help to curb travel costs at this time when belt-tightening has become standard travel policy for many of our corporate clients," according to a statement from Ovation chairman and CEO Paul Metselaar.