Revealed: Top-10 cities for world's most expensive hotels

It isn’t a secret that a recovering global economy is leading to an increase in the number of people travelling for both business and leisure, and that can mean only one thing for the hotel room rates.

Yes, they’re inching up.

But did you know which is the most expensive city in the world to rent a hotel room?

According to Hotels.com’s Hotel Price Index (HPI), on an average, the global traveller paid 2 per cent more in the first half of this year to book a hotel room for the night as compared with the same period last year. While that might not sound much of an increase, it is over and above the trend of slowly increasing rates that have been witnessed seen since the beginning of 2010.

“Our Hotel Price Index is now almost back to the same level as in 2006, the last year before the financial crisis began,” says David Roche, President, Hotels.com. “Whether we are quite due for seven fat years after seven lean remains to be seen but, as our report shows, there are certainly some destinations where prices have begun to move as traveler demand increases,” he added.

So which are the world’s most expensive cities (on an average) to rent a hotel room, and how much will a nightcap set you back by?

It’s Bora Bora in French Polynesia that has once again emerged as the world’s most expensive city in for renting a hotel room. According to HPI data, a one-night stay in Bora Bora will cost you, on an average, $799 (approximately Dh3,000).

Now before you say that’s nothing compared to Hotel X in City Y, remember that these are ‘average’ rates, which means that individual rates will vary with some of them being much higher than $799 and some others much lower than that price.

According to Hotels.com, average daily room rates in Bora Bora rose 9 per cent year-on-year from $736 (~Dh2,700) last year. The next most expensive city in the world to rent a hotel room in the first half of 2013 was Italy’s Tremezzo, where a one-night stay would have set you back by an average $503 (Dh1,847), up 2 per cent from last year.

Newport Coast in California (US) follows at No. 3, and an average hotel room there has risen a massive 25 per cent this year, from $402 last year to $501 (Dh1,840) in the first half of 2013. At $499 (Dh1,833), a night-stay in a hotel in West End, Anguilla, was only marginally cheaper, and the city too saw hotel room rents soar by 23 per cent year-on-year during H1 2013.

Rounding up the top 5 most expensive cities for renting a hotel room is Wailea (Maui) in Hawaii, US, where the average daily room rate stood at $470 (Dh1,726) in H1 2013, also up 23 per cent over last year.

Here are the Top 10 cities for world’s most expensive hotel stays:

Top 10 cities for world’s most expensive hotel stays

Here are the Top 10 cities for world’s most expensive hotel stays:

Top 10 cities for world’s most expensive hotel stays

HPI is a regular survey of hotel prices in major destinations across the world. The HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com and prices shown are those actually paid by customers per room night, rather than advertised rates.   

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