Hotel room rates, particularly in ‘Megacities’, have continued to grow in the first six months of 2014.
According to statistics, from the latest Hotel Survey conducted by international corporate services company, Hogg Robinson Group (HRG), the Asia-Pacific hotel market is the only region globally to experience a year-on-year growth rate in excess of the previous year’s figures.
Occupancy in key business destinations also remains at record levels and is continuing to grow, highlighting the increasing importance of the growth ‘Megacities’ over regional trends.
This comes at a time when other regions witnessed ARR move back compared to the same period a year ago.
However cities within each region continue to see large discrepancies.
Moscow retainined the top spot in the Hotel Survey for the tenth consecutive year with a 16.3 per cent rise in the local ARR, bringing it up to a hefty $(AU)445 a night.
The UK also experienced a very positive first six months in 2014 with ARR increasing in eight of the top ten cities. London continues to see steady increases in ARR, propelling the city to 12th place from 22nd in last year’s survey.
The survey also found that key markets in the oil and gas sector, such as Aberdeen and Houston, continued to benefit from a booming industry coupled with a lack of new openings.
Recovery in the financial services sector also continues apace. Seven of the top 10 global financial centres experienced local ARR increases.
“The balance between price, location, quality and availability will drive the market throughout 2014 and that continues to be the case,” Margaret Bowler, Director Global Hotel Relations at HRG, said.
However, according to Bowler, there are still opportunities for clients to secure savings if they are open minded.
“By consolidating their programme and by building meaningful, long-term working relationships with hotel groups, clients will be better placed to navigate the sometimes volatile market place,” she said.
Bowler also advises that data, and understanding how to use it, will becoming increasingly important in the corporate travel industry and none more so than within the hotel sector.
“By being smarter with their data, clients will be more effective in understanding the total cost of stay at a hotel, such as their incremental spend and the night of a week they are staying, improving their position to deliver the best results from their hotel programme,“ she said.