Hotel rates fell by 12 per cent in 2008

www.hotels.com

In 2008, the average hotel room price globally fell by 12 per cent, according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).

Room prices in December were over 10 per cent lower than in December of 2007, and just one per cent higher than they were in January 2004, when the first Hotel Price Index was published.

The decline in hotel room prices was driven by a fall in rates on every continent.

North America room rates fell the most, down 12 per cent in the final quarter as compared with the same period in 2007.

In Europe the situation was not much better, as prices dropped by 10 per cent in the same quarter. Caribbean and Latin American hotel room prices declined by seven percent, and in Asia, the decrease was considerably smaller, at two per cent.

Asian room rate declines were the first for the region since Hotels.com began publishing the Hotel Price Index in January 2004.

The HPI tracks real prices paid per hotel room, rather than the rates that are advertised by the hotels. Figures are collected on 68,000 hotels in 12,500 locations world-wide.

www.hotels.com