Geneva the world’s most expensive hotel dining destination

By Aaron Greenwood On Jun 25, 2015

Guest Contributor

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Geneva has once again topped a list of the world’s most expensive destinations for hotel dining.

The Club Sandwich Index (CSI), published by Hotels.com, found the Swiss city is not only the priciest city for a club sandwich, but it also topped the charts as the most expensive destination to enjoy a full-day hotel dining experience (£56.53), while Bogota, Colombia is the best value-for-money destination with an average price of £19.60.

The CSI report incorporates the prices of four main dining options available to hotel guests throughout the day: a Club Sandwich, a burger meal, a cup of coffee and and a glass of red wine.

The average prices are calculated from real prices (including taxes and fees) paid by guests for all four items in 30 hotels, in the capital or an important tourist city of the 28 countries surveyed, across 5-, 4- and 3-star hotel categories.

While hungry travellers can get the most bang for their buck in Bogota, which clocked an average dining cost of £19.60, Rio de Janeiro (£22.28) and Buenos Aires (£26.26) also gave the Colombian capital a run for its money with their affordable dining costs.

Hotel guests in South Korea paid the most to get their caffeine fix, with Seoul dominating the list for the priciest cuppa at £6.34 on average. Interestingly, patrons to a 5-star hotel in Paris found it more expensive to indulge in a glass of house red wine (£15.01) than club sandwiches in 19 other cities, including New York City, Dublin, Sydney and Berlin.

Table 1: Average prices of hotel menu items and total dining costs based on city (2015)

Average price per Items, including taxes and fees (in GBP)
Ranking	CITY	A burger meal	A cup of coffee	A glass of house red wine	A club sandwich	Total cost (in GBP)
1	Switzerland – Geneva	24.64	4.04	7.91	19.94	56.52
2	France – Paris	19.31	3.77	8.35	15.90	47.33
3	Hong Kong	19.93	4.82	8.01	13.75	46.50
4	Norway – Oslo	20.33	3.13	8.03	13.12	44.60
5	UK – London	16.78	3.98	7.52	14.39	42.67
6	South Korea – Seoul	14.27	6.34	8.87	13.10	42.59
7	Sweden – Stockholm	15.32	2.60	7.41	14.89	40.23
8	Japan – Tokyo	14.69	5.54	7.19	12.20	39.63
9	Singapore	15.31	3.95	9.11	11.10	39.47
10	USA – New York	15.82	3.51	8.02	11.53	38.87
11	China – Beijing	15.44	5.01	8.12	10.10	38.66
12	Finland – Helsinki	13.24	2.66	5.35	13.06	34.32
13	Denmark – Copenhagen	13.23	3.21	6.70	11.17	34.30
14	Australia – Sydney	15.11	2.56	4.91	10.67	33.25
15	Italy – Rome	14.40	2.20	5.83	9.47	31.90
16	Netherlands – Amsterdam	14.32	2.53	3.87	9.91	30.63
17	Taiwan – Taipei	12.13	4.46	5.87	7.61	30.07
18	Ireland – Dublin	12.59	2.14	4.73	8.98	28.43
19	Russia – Moscow	10.01	2.71	6.40	8.95	28.07
20	India – New Delhi	9.66	2.52	8.22	7.33	27.74
21	Germany – Berlin	10.80	2.38	4.31	9.80	27.28
22	Canada – Toronto	9.54	2.30	5.70	9.55	27.09
23	Argentina – Buenos Aires	11.44	2.30	4.50	8.01	26.26
24	Thailand – Bangkok	8.96	2.86	6.84	7.11	25.77
25	Spain – Madrid	11.79	2.17	2.95	8.33	25.24
26	Brazil – Rio de Janeiro	8.64	1.34	5.65	6.66	22.28
27	Mexico – Mexico City	8.70	1.61	4.27	6.37	20.95
28	Colombia – Bogota	7.67	1.02	4.08	6.84	19.60

Key findings of the report included:

Geneva retained top position on the chart for the priciest club sandwich on average. Italy’s price decreased by 32%, while club sandwiches in Finland and Spain became more affordable

Geneva (£19.94) and Paris (£15.90) retained their positions in first and second place respectively as destinations where travellers paid the most for a club sandwich, despite experiencing a fall in their average prices from 2014 to 2015.
Rome decreased by 32%, dropping 9 places from 2014, with an average price of £9.47
India increased by 28%, jumping up 4 places from 2014, still making it one of the most affordable places to enjoy a club sandwich.
Mexico City saw practically no change with the price only increasing by 0.08%, now costing £6.37, the cheapest on average globally.
Travellers in Finland and Spain enjoy more affordable club sandwiches, whereby the average price in Helsinki dropped by 18% to £13.06, while prices in Madrid fell 20% to £8.33.
India’s New Delhi (£7.33) lost its title as the cheapest destination for a club sandwich, with the claim to fame now going to Mexico City at £6.37.
France is home to the most expensive glass of house red wine at £15.01 at a 5-star hotel. In fact, the average price of a glass of house red in a 5-star hotel in the French city costs more than a club sandwich in 19 other destinations, including New York City, Dublin, Sydney and Berlin.
The most affordable glass of wine can be found in Madrid, with guests paying only £2.95 on average.
Geneva emerged as the most expensive destination for a burger, fries and soda meal, with guests paying an average of £24.64 – more than triple the price for a meal in the cheapest destination, Bogota (£7.67). This was followed closely by Oslo with an average of £20.33 for a burger meal deal.

EXPERT OPINION

Geneva Hotels.com