Hotel bargains up for grabs

Hotel rates across the world have been slashed by as much as 40 per cent making this one of the best times to travel, according to a new study.

The biggest drop in room rates is in the Indian city of Mumbai, where prices fell by 40 per cent in January compared with the same month last year.

Holidaymakers flocked to Dubai earlier this year to take advantage of a 30 per cent fall in room rates following the state's financial meltdown and the United Arab Emirate is still offering better value for money than last year.

Prices are down by a quarter in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, in Mexico City, Madrid and Moscow, while in Istanbul and Zurich they have fallen 16 per cent.

Even in New York, one of the world's most expensive cities, visitors are paying 13 per cent less for rooms than they were a year ago.

Hotel prices are expected to continue to fall throughout this year due to a drop in business travel, leaving empty rooms for holidaymakers to snap up at discounted rates.

The best deals are likely to be in bigger cities that typically attract a higher percentage of business travellers, and in four- and five-star hotels that are suffering the most from a decline in corporate visitors.

Not all cities have reduced their prices, however. In London room rates have remained roughly the same as last year and in Prague prices have actually risen five per cent on average.

Winter sports enthusiasts have helped push up rates in Vancouver, host to the Winter Olympics, and in Toronto and Seoul, the capital of South Korea, prices remain high.

Digg    Reddit    Facebook    Tweet This