The annual hotel survey released by Hogg Robinson Group (HRG), the international corporate travel services company, reflects a challenging year for the hotel market, a common theme throughout the business travel industry. Across the world, all regions reported falls in average room rates in local currency terms, with only a small number of cities such as London, Houston and Johannesburg avoiding the double digit falls seen elsewhere.  The weakening of the British Pound was again a key factor affecting rates paid by corporate travellers from the UK, particularly those travelling to the US and the Eurozone.

• For the fifth consecutive year, Moscow has emerged as the most expensive destination worldwide, despite posting a 5% fall in average room rate in local currency terms. A business traveller from the UK would expect to pay an average of £266.56 for a hotel room there
•  London also saw a 5% decline in average rate, down from the 3% growth over the same period last year and dropped from 16th to 29th place in the ranking of the most expensive cities. It was however able to take advantage of increased demand due to the weakness of the Pound and was less affected than the UK provincial cities
• The Middle East region again experienced weaker rate falls than other regions.  Abu Dhabi moved up from 5th  to  2nd place in the rankings, only seeing a 1% decrease in average room rate, and Manama (Bahrain) shot up to fifth place, reflecting demand outstripping supply in the region
•  Difficult trading conditions resulted in key cities in North America seeing decreasing rates when measured in local currency, except for Houston, a major centre for the oil & gas industry, and the Canadian capital Ottawa. Although New York City saw one of the largest declines in local currency terms (23%), market conditions there showed some signs of improvement towards the end of 2009, even when taking into account the significant downturn in the last quarter of 2008
• The budget hotel sector remained static year on year facing increasing competition from the 3 and 4 star market;  the top end of the market held up well, with the lowest average rate decline seen in 5 star hotels (3.5%) as top hoteliers proved willing to sacrifice a degree of occupancy in order to maintain rate integrity.

Margaret Bowler, Director Global Hotel Relations at HRG, says: “It is clearly a tough picture for the hotel industry in 2009 but we did see it coming and the changing market has created opportunities for both corporate travellers and hoteliers.

“Previously hotels could deny bookers access to corporate rates in favour of more lucrative options.  In 2009, the playing field levelled and this trend reversed as occupancy levels decreased and corporates gained greater access to negotiated rates.  Hoteliers have tried to maintain rates and therefore corporate travellers have increasingly been able to secure value-added services as part of their negotiated rates such as internet access, parking, and breakfast.”

Margaret Bowler adds: “Many of our clients are focussing on the opportunity to save money that their hotel policy presents.  Corporates have always seen hotels as second to air.  In the difficult trading conditions in 2009 they realised that hotels hold the potential for significant savings in their travel programmes so the role of travel management firms such as HRG has become more important than ever to guide clients through the market.”

Douglas McWilliams, Chief Executive of cebr (the Centre for Economics and Business Research ltd.) commented: “We have just been through deepest recession since the 1930s and the recovery remains at a relatively early stage. The latest Hogg Robinson Group hotel survey vividly illustrates the effect of the downturn in demand on the hotel market. But it also shows signs of recovery across the globe, particularly in dynamic emerging economies. In the United Kingdom, 2009 was a tough year but the weak pound offers hope for the UK economy in 2010, as illustrated by the London market faring better than other UK cities. Looking ahead, we expect the recovery to continue in 2010 but this will not be without challenges as the unprecedented policy stimulus across the globe is gradually withdrawn.”