Moscow hotels ‘most expensive’ – Bangkok ‘cheapest’

Moscow hotels are the most expensive in the world followed by New York and Boston.

The Russian capital cemented its status as the world’s most expensive city, with prices paid averaging £167 a night between April and June 2006 despite prices falling 28% year-on-year.

Prices paid in second-placed New York were £140; up 16% on the same period a year ago while the average cost of a London hotel £91.

The findings come from the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) based on prices paid by customers for 20,000 hotels across 1,000 locations.

US cities dominated the top of the table, with Boston (£135 per night on average) and Chicago (£125) joining New York in the top five most expensive cities and Washington (£118) also in the top ten.

Venice was the most expensive of the leading Western European destinations, with prices paid coming in at £123 per night on average during the second quarter of the year. 

Leading the “rest of the world” was Dubai at £119, while Tokyo was the highest-priced Asian destination, with rooms costing an average of £106.

At just £57 per night, Bangkok has the cheapest average hotel prices paid amongst the top-50 major tourist cities in the world at £57 a night. The Thai capital is closely followed by Buenos Aires (£62) and Bilbao (£63). Major Chinese destinations, Shanghai (at £66 a night) and Beijing (£69) are among the world’s “cheapest sleeps”. Las Vegas was the cheapest major US destination, according to the research.

Hotels.com EMEA marketing director Patrik Oqvist said: “Moscow has long been a popular destination for tourists and business travellers alike, however, it is the fact that its hotel prices can fall 28% and it can still be the most expensive city in the world for a night’s sleep that caught our attention.

“Average prices paid across Germany rose rapidly through Q2 2006, probably due to the World Cup – which shows that the impact can be of a major event on a country’s hospitality industry and the prices of rooms. It certainly bodes well for the UK market as we look forward to a number of cultural and sporting events, culminating with the Olympics in 2012.”

Hotels.com Q2 most expensive hotels:

Average price paid      Percentage price change (Q2 2005 vs. Q2 2006)   Percentage price change (Q1 2006 vs. Q2 2006)  

MOSCOW  £167    -28%    0%    

NEW YORK        £140    3%      16%   

BOSTON  £135    21%     26%   

CHICAGO £125    1%      22%   

VENEZIA £123    -3%     17%   

DUBAI   £119    -3%     -22%  

WASHINGTON DC   £118    10%     5%    

AMSTERDAM       £111    9%      32%   

FRANKFURT       £110    44%     12%   

GENEVA  £108    -13%    4%    

TOKYO   £106    -7%     4%    

ROME    £105    5%      15%   

COPENHAGEN      £101    -2%     30%   

SEATTLE £98     18%     26%   

SYDNEY  £95     -6%     5%    

OSLO    £93     10%     23%   

VANCOUVER       £92     12%     16%   

PARIS   £92     2%      15%   

LONDON  £91     -1%     23%   

TSIM SHA TSUI   £90     -30%    -12%  

BARCELONA       £90     2%      11%   

NICE    £90     4%      29%   

MIAMI BEACH     £89     -2%     -21%  

DUBLIN  £84     -9%     15%   

MONTREAL        £84     -2%     21%   

PRAGUE  £84     -9%     12%   

SAN FRANCISCO   £84     4%      13%   

TORONTO £82     -4%     10%   

RIO DE JANEIRO  £82     18%     -6%   

MÜNCHEN £81     -7%     26%   

PISA    £81     1%      21%   

HONG KONG       £80     5%      -10%  

ATHENS  £80     1%      26%   

MADRID  £80     4%      16%   

BUDAPEST        £79     5%      25%   

ORLANDO £76     12%     7%    

WARSAW  £76     -2%     21%   

LOS ANGELES     £75     -17%    8%    

SINGAPORE       £75     14%     2%    

BERLIN  £71     12%     27%   

TALLINN £70     -4%     28%   

CAPE TOWN       £70     -15%    -21%  

ISTANBUL        £69     -14%    18%   

BEIJING £69     -4%     -2%   

LISBON  £68     -3%     19%   

LAS VEGAS       £67     -4%     -9%   

SHANGHAI        £66     -10%    -19%  

BILBAO  £63     -7%     11%   

BUENOS AIRES    £62     8%      7%    

BANGKOK £57     6%      8%    

Report by Phil Davies