Hotels in major UK cities cutting the price of rooms as demand slips

HOTEL room rates dipped in most major UK cities in the first half of this year, according to latest figures.

The biggest decline was in Belfast, where average room rates fell 12 per cent from 93.05 in the first half of 2009 to 81.71 in January-June 2010, statistics from travel service company Hogg Robinson Group showed.

Rates for Bristol hotels were down by an average of 6 per cent in the first half of this year, while Manchester rooms were 5 per cent down and there were 4 per cent reductions in room rates in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.

London rates were the most expensive in the UK on average and also rose slightly in the first half of this year, going up from 153.30 to 154.18.

HRG said demand for London hotels dipped during the bad weather at the beginning of this year, but rose during the Icelandic ash cloud crisis in April.

The crisis also led to a fractional rise in rates at Heathrow airport hotels, with average prices going up from 103.06 in the first half of last year to 103.87 in the first six months of 2010.

Worldwide, London was the 23rd most expensive city for hotel rooms in the first half of this year.

The most expensive city in January-June 2010 was Moscow, with average prices of 256.83.

This was a 12 per cent dip on the same period last year.