AVERAGE hotel room rates in Asia-Pacific escalated last year, with Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore being the three most expensive cities for hotel bookings, according to research released by corporate travel solutions provider HRS.
The HRS Annual Asia-Pacific Hotel Price Radar indicated that average room rates in Tokyo rose by 30.3 per cent to S$269 (US$191) in 2015, and in Sydney by 6.92 per cent to S$266 and in Singapore by 11.3 per cent to S$262.
In fourth place was Melbourne, which saw a decline of 19.5 per cent in average room rates to S$232. The only other city in the top 10 spot to see cheaper hotel prices was Kuala Lumpur with a 5.6 per cent decrease to S$105 on average per night. Meanwhile, Jakarta saw the greatest year-on-year increase with a 34.8 per cent hike to S$139.
Todd Arthur, managing director APAC at HRS, said: “The rise in business-related travel drive hotel rooms demand, and cities with the top hotel room rates indicates the business hotspots within the Asia-Pacific region.
“Hotel room rates increases are driven by higher levels of business confidence, and our findings are synonymous with the GBTA Foundation’s prediction of global business travel spending to increase 6.5 per cent over 2014.”
The study also finds business travel being relatively unaffected by crisis events. While the Bangkok bombings had impacted leisure travel in some ways, HRS data shows that the city witnessed a 31 per cent increase in room rates in 2015.
As well, hotel nights in Beijing increased by 22.2 per cent despite the city’s smog crisis which appeared in late 2015.
