Hongkongers paid less for hotels around the world in first half 2015, according to the latest Hotel Price Index from Hotels.com

HONG KONG - For the first time, hotel prices paid in three world regions have overtaken their pre-financial crisis levels of 2008/2009, with North America, the Caribbean and Latin America setting new records, although the overall global rise is up just one per cent in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 according to the latest Hotel Price Index (HPI) from Hotels.com. More travellers, higher consumer spending in key areas and strong currency fluctuations have all contributed to this result. However, despite the global rise, travellers from Hong Kong managed to pay less for hotels in the majority of countries analysed in the HPI.

The HPI is a regular report on hotel prices in major destinations across the world, tracking the movement in prices that people actually paid* for their accommodation and providing valuable insight into the reasons behind these changes. The data is drawn from bookings made on the hundreds of thousands of hotels on the Hotels.com websites worldwide.

Top 10 overseas destinations for travellers from Hong Kong in H1 2015 and H1 2014
H1 2015

Change in hotel prices paid by Hong Kong travellers in top destinations

Any Hongkonger planning to travel to Taipei soon will be pleased to know that, according to the HPI, the prices Hongkongers paid for accommodation in the first half of the year has decreased by 11 per cent, from HKD885 to HKD790, compared to the same period in 2014.

The strong performance of Tokyo and Osaka could be attributed to the weaker yen in the first half of the year, which helped fuel additional demand for travelling to the already well-loved country. For the hotel prices paid in these two cities, Tokyo recorded a 13 per cent drop while Osaka saw a ten per cent increase – Hong Kong travellers on average paid HKD1,023 for a room in Tokyo and HKD988 in Osaka in the first six months of 2015. However, taking the average of prices paid at all Japanese cities studied in the report, the prices paid by Hong Kong travellers to stay for a night in Japan were relatively stable with only a two per cent drop from previous half-year’s number.

Seoul, the fourth popular destination, also recorded a drop in prices paid for its hotels this period. On average, Hong Kong travellers paid HKD780 for a night in Seoul, a 16 per cent decrease compared to the first half of 2014. South Korea on a whole had a slightly bigger drop – Hongkongers paid HKD768, or 18 per cent less, for hotels in South Korea in this half year.

Places with notable price changes
Of the 46 countries included in this edition, Hong Kong travellers only paid more for hotels in eight of them. Ireland saw the biggest increase with 12 per cent, followed by USA with 6 percent. Among the countries where Hongkongers paid less, Russia had the biggest drop with a 30 per cent decrease in prices paid for each room each night.

Interestingly, Hongkongers also paid less for local hotels – Hong Kong hotels saw a 21 per cent decrease, from HKD1,117 to HKD882, in prices paid by locals in the first half of 2015. This drop has resulted in Hong Kong becoming the city with the highest percentage decrease in hotel prices paid among all Asian cities.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia