Auckland hotels reduce room rates

Auckland hotel room rates fell 40 per cent in United States dollar terms over a year, the third largest fall in a worldwide index of hotel rates.

Overall a 17 per cent fall in global prices was recorded in the Hotels.com survey for the period from January to June this year, compared to the corresponding period the year before.

The city with the largest fall, in US dollars, was Moscow which dropped 52 per cent, followed by Mumbai with a 42 per cent fall, then Auckland.

Hotels.com attributed the fall in Auckland's room rates to lingering economic recession, with consumers becoming increasingly "abstemious" in their travel spending.

"As a result, hoteliers in the city have dropped prices to encourage tourists as well as business travellers to the city, with the aim of maintaining occupancy rates, but at the expense of lower average daily rates," Hotels.com said.

In Sydney prices fell 30 per cent, the 17th largest fall among the world's cities. New York was also down 30 per cent, Geneva fell 28 per cent, Venice was down 20 per cent, Paris down 18 per cent, Singapore down 35 per cent, Beijing down 32 per cent, and Hong Kong down 22 per cent.

Hotels.com Worldwide president David Roche said the movement in prices in the latest period was by far the most significant in the five years the index had been published.

The price index tracks real prices paid for hotel rooms, rather than advertised rates, using a weighted average based on the number of rooms sold in each of the markets Hotels.com operates in.

- NZPA