London no longer most expensive place to stay in Europe

02-May-2016 - Last updated on 26-Apr-2021 at 18:57 GMT

The average price for a London hotel room has fallen 2 per cent in the last year

A 2 per cent drop in the average room rate across London’s hotels in the last year means the capital has lost its status as the ‘most expensive place to stay in Europe’.

According to price comparisons by international booking portal Hotel Info, the average price for a hotel room in London in March was £108.98, a drop of 2.36 per cent on the same month last year.

Hoteliers in Manchester and Edinburgh also charged less this March than they did last year. The average price for a hotel room in Manchester fell 9.43 per cent to £93.65 while in Edinburgh the average price was £71.18 in March, a drop of 2.14 per cent on the same month in 2015.

While the average price fell in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, it rose in Birmingham and Liverpool. In the UK's second largest city, average room rate rose by 6.63 per cent to £83.43 while in Liverpool, prices rose by 5 per cent to £77.27.

Bern most expensive

With London falling off the top spot, Bern in Switzerland is now the most expensive place to stay in Europe, according to the information gathered from Hotel Info's 29,000 hotels in the world.

The average price for a hotel room in the Swiss capital in March was £116.62, an increase of 7.2 per cent on the previous year. Hotels in Copenhagen (number 3), Stockholm (4) and Oslo (5) all experienced price rises too as did Brussels, Helskinki, Amsterdam, Dublin, Belgrade, Berlin, Vienna and Madrid. The only places to see a drop in the ARR were London, Paris and Moscow.

Hotel Info said the lower accommodation costs combined with the weakening pound were allowing tourists from the Eurozone to get better value for their money in the UK.

The news comes as BDRC Continental's Holiday Trends survey found that more Brits plan to spend their holidays in the UK this year with 73 per cent planning to take a short break and 24 per cent looking to have their main holiday in the UK.