Hotel prices up 12% in India
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
India’s average room rates (ARR) rose 12% in first six months of 2012.
According to the data revealed by Hotels.com, hotel prices in Chennai rose 11%, Mumbai prices were up 7% while prices in New Delhi and Kolkata rose 4% and 2% respectively. “In India, the overall rate rose 12% following a surge in demand from domestic travellers as overseas destinations became more expensive,” the report said.
For the first time in five years, travellers paid more for their hotel rooms during the first six months of 2012, in all parts of the world and globally average hotel prices rose by 4% over the last year indicating the hotel industry is staging recovery, it said.
The Hotel Price Index looks at prices that people actually paid for their hotel rooms around the world. “The hotel industry bounced back in the first half of this year from a number of natural and political crises in 2011, and it is encouraging to see growth in the sector,” Hotels.com’s President, David Roche said.
While initially it may not seem good news for consumers, hotel prices are still only around their 2005 level, representing great value for travellers when both wages and other prices have risen considerably, he added.
Following the turmoil of the Arab Spring in early 2011, confidence returned to much of the Middle East and North Africa and hotel prices rose accordingly. Japanese began to travel again putting behind the turbulence of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in March 2011,while there was significant increase in the number of Chinese international travellers that helped to drive rates higher, the report said.
In the US, increasing business travel coupled with higher consumer spending made hotels busier with less discounting. In the Pacific, the resources boom in Australia meant that space was at a premium, especially in Western Australia with global business visitors vying with mining executives for rooms. Although rates rose as a whole in Europe, the results showed a mixed picture.
