The hotel industry: Room service? It will cost you...

The cost of a British hotel room is soaring, and they are now the most expensive in Europe. The average price of a one-night stay is £98, with the city of Bath the most expensive place for visitors, reports Simon Calder

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The building overlooking Hyde Park is now the Lanesborough Hotel, and one of the priciest places to stay in western Europe's most expensive capital for overnight guests.

The annual Hotel Price Index from the online agency, www.hotels.com , surveys 20,000 hotels in 1,000 locations. It found the average nightly room rate in the capital in the last quarter of 2006 was £107.

For comparison, even in Oslo ­ capital of the richest country in Europe ­ an average double room in the city centre can be found for £85.

Britain's national average is £98. Once currency exchange charges are taken into account, that represents a cost to overseas visitors of $200 for Americans over more than ¤150.

"The UK remained the most expensive country in Europe during 2006," said Hotels.com's marketing director, Patrick Oqvist. He said the survey demonstrated "the rising popularity of our cities as tourist destinations".

That growing attraction is partly due to Britain becoming the hub of the low-cost aviation industry. For travellers in dozens of towns and cities across Europe, London is the only foreign capital accessible by air. But when the new visitors touch down, they find a city that may prove ruinously expensive.

Last night, rooms at Malmaison in Clerkenwell were going for £254, making the boutique property one of the better-value upmarket options. A double room topped £400 on Park Lane at the Four Seasons and London Hilton. The Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge was quoting walk-up customers a rate of £410 a night ­ still £101 lower than its near neighbour, the Lanesborough. Here, if two occupants sleep for eight hours each, every second of slumber costs one penny.

"I don't mind paying $1,000 a night if the hotel is world-class," said one frequent US visitor to London. "But here I'm not getting the quality that sort of money buys you elsewhere. The attitude seems to be: 'most people are only here for a night or two, and as long as the Wifi works and the minibar is full, they won't complain'."

The Hotels.com survey covers only cost, not quality. In the most recent TripAdvisor.com survey, three British hotels made the top 10 of luxury hotels in Europe: the Atlantic in Jersey, and the Parkes and Chesterfield Mayfair in London. The first four places, though, went to hotels in Germany, France, Ireland and the Czech Republic, and no London hotel made it into the worldwide top 10.

The cost of getting about in London can add to the visitor's woes: in January, the cash fare to travel anywhere in central London on the Tube rose to £4, more than twice the price in any other city in the world.

While air-fares within Europe have approximately halved in the past decade, hotel rates have continued to rise: by 17 per cent last year alone, according to the survey. Some observers expected the price-comparison potential of the internet to depress room rates, as prospective guests shopped around for the best value. But despite the success of sites such as Hotels.com, Laterooms.com and Opodo.co.uk, rates appear remarkably robust.

The key measure in the hotel business is revenue per available room, or RevPAR. In London it is at an all-time high. After the bombings in the capital in July 2005, some feared that earnings would go into decline. In fact, the opposite has happened; during 2006, Hotels.com reports that London hotel rates increased by 22 per cent, with occupancy rates high.

The gains being made will entice investors into the new-build hotel market, and work is under way on sites in London; speculators also have half an eye on the 2012 Olympics. Yet building appears not to be keeping pace with demand. The result: London has a chronic shortage of beds. It shares that characteristic with Paris, the most expensive continental capital with an average nightly rate of £96.

Just behind Paris is Edinburgh, where guests paid an average of £95 for a double room. Yet London does not have the most expensive hotels in Britain. That dubious honour goes to Bath, where the nightly average is £114. Last year, the long-awaited Thermae Bath Spa finally opened, adding to demand from well-heeled visitors.

Last night, a double room at the upmarket Tasburgh House Hotel in Bath was selling just below the average, at £110. The proprietor, Sue Keeling, said, "If you want the best quality and the most romantic and memorable places to stay, it doesn't come cheap. As long as we're able to offer the quality that goes with the cost, surely it's worth it."

While buoyant rates across Britain are good news for hoteliers and their staff, there is a longer-term danger that Britain will acquire a reputation as an ultra-high-cost country. Already there are signs that Chinese visitors ­ whose currency is tied to the weak US dollar ­ are forsaking Britain for continental Europe.

Budget travellers should steer clear of Moscow, which remains the dearest city in the world. An average double room costs £172, with the new Ritz-Carlton quoting a "rack rate" of £490. In second place is New York, at £155.

The world's cheapest city for classy hotels is Bangkok, at £44 a night. Closer to home, the Estonian capital, Tallinn, has seen rates fall in the past year ­ and is now the most economical European city for a comfortable stay, at an average of £51 a night. Travellers could stay 10 nights in Tallinn for the price of one night at London's Lanesborough.

Budget travellers to London, meanwhile, should fare better from next month when the Youth Hostels Association re-opens its Earl's Court property with 170 beds.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou opened his first easyHotel in west London in 2005, and last night a standard double room was on offer at £50. And at Europe's biggest backpacker hostel, the Generator near Russell Square, beds were available for just £17.

What the guests think

Dirk Wolfing, 41

Police officer, from Dusseldorf in Germany, staying at The Queens Park Hotel, Bayswater.

Cost: £270 for two people for three nights including breakfast and flights.

"The hotel is near where we want to go to but the bedrooms are small and the bathroom is very small. The breakfast isn't enough - the breakfasts in other hotels we stayed at last week in other European countries was much better."

Simon Courtnell, 40

BT engineer, from Portsmouth, staying at The Strand Palace, in the Strand.

Cost: £110 for double room with breakfast.

"We could do with the room being a bit bigger. It's a bit compact, but it's okay. The staff have been helpful so far, we've had no problems. From the outside though it doesn't really look like it should cost that much a night - it looks quite austere and worn.'

Kim Bochul, 34

Engineer, from Ulsan in Korea, staying at The Strand Palace Hotel, the Strand.

Cost: £70 per night, including breakfast.

"The room is a bit too small. There aren't some of the facilities I would expect, such as soap and a toothbrush. Otherwise the room is fine, and the staff have been helpful."

Stefanie Scheibe, 26

A student, from Berlin, staying at the Linden House Hotel, Hyde Park.

Cost: £59 for three people per night, including breakfast.

"It's good value for London. The breakfast is an English breakfast. It's all right for a short trip. When we arrived, the hotel room wasn't ready and they gave us a room on an upper floor, which was difficult because we have an elderly lady with us. They helped us change rooms when we asked. The room was clean, but there was some rubbish under the beds."

So what do you get for £98?

Westminster Hotel, Bayswater, London

On its website, the Wesminster looks smart, with photographs showing clean rooms with warm and welcoming colours. However, on arrival, some guests have found that only a few rooms have received a makeover. Although there is a lift, it is tiny. Breakfast is included but only of the basic, continental variety. Broadband access and in-room safe boxes are available but they cost extra.

Best Western Abbey Hotel, Bath

The bold tartan bedspreads and curtains of the Abbey, in the oldest part of Bath, may be too garish for some but at least the hotel provide Wi-fi access, satellite television, a hairdryer and the ubiquitous trouser press in each room. Guests report dingy rooms with uncomfortable sagging beds and dodgy plumbing. There is also no car parking, and it can easily cost £11 per day to park nearby.

The Bushmills Inn, County Antrim

A short stagger from the eponymous distillery, the Bushmills is a restored coaching inn and mill house. The Causeway coast is certainly an attraction as is the Gastropub in the hotel. For £98, you can stay in the cheapest option, in the coaching inn part of the building. Rooms are small and overlook the main street, so can be noisy. All rooms have en suite bath or shower but are on the small side.

Château de Sully, Bayeux, France

The restored 18th century Château de Sully is close to the historic town of Bayeux. It has its own restaurant with one star in the Michelin Guide. The Normandy invasion beaches are 15 minutes' drive away. For this price you get an elaborately furnished single room in the farmhouse annex to chateau. Summer season, for a single standard room, €150 or about £100.

Hotel Balmoral, Barcelona, Spain

The four-star hotel is right in the centre of the city, five minutes' walk from Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera and the Casa Battló, on the city's most fashionable thoroughfare, Passeig de Gracia. A double room costs €145 (£98) a night including breakfast. Each room is air-conditioned, includes internet access, has satellite television and boasts a view of the city.

Hotel Albrechtshof, Berlin, Germany

The fashionable Mitte district is right in the middle of downtown Berlin. The hotel has just been refurbished. Rooms are restrained and tasteful with modern art on the walls. A single costs €150 per night and has a minbar, bathroom with shower, and a television with over thirty channels. Unbelievably, the €150 will include dinner from the hotel's very decent restaurant.

Carton House, Dublin, Ireland

Carton House is a new luxury hotel just 14 miles west of Dublin. It is the former home of John FitzGerald, the Earl of Kildare. Queen Victoria, Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly have visited the estate, which has provided the backdrop for many TV and film productions. There are also two golf courses, fishing and hiking. Room rates start at €140 (£95).

Hotel d'Angleterre, Paris, France

You can stay in heart of Paris - where American Independence was negotiated in 1783 and former guests include Ernest Hemingway - from €135 (£91) a night for a single room. The Hotel d'Angleterre is a pretty three-star hotel in the Saint-Germain de Près district on the Left Bank. For the price, you get a comfortable room with shower or bath and - unusually in France - a free buffet breakfast.

Daphne Inn, Rome, Italy

The Daphne Inn's two properties in central Rome offer smart, chic, comfortable, English-speaking accommodation, minutes from three of the Italian capital's most famous spots: the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Via Veneto, the curving boulevard of cafes where Fellini set his film Il Dolce Vita. Cost? €150 per night. Price of the room includes breakfast of fresh fruit and pastries.

Room for improvement?

Do you think Britain's hotels cost too much? And does the industry need to offer better value for money? Let us know your thoughts and experiences at hotelstories@ independent.co.uk