China Hotels See Steady Price Growth

According to reports from Hotels.com Hotel Price Index hotel room prices are growing steadily in China's second and third tier cities, with an overall rise of 19% in the hotel price index since 2009.

According to the report a number of the nation's second tier cities are showing considerable growth, including Chengdu with 21% and Shenzhen with 16%. Meanwhile other Chinese cities are showing steady increases, for example Hangzhou with 8%, Nanjing, and Qingdao with 5%, and Xi'An with 3%. Some first tier cities, such as Shanghai with 23% and Guangzhou with 29%, have recorded strong growth in rates on the back of major events in 2010 such as the Shanghai Expo and Asian Games.

Of the other major Asian countries and regions tracked by the HPI, Singapore led the price recovery in Asia at 33%, followed by Hong Kong at 27%. Major South East Asian countries' hotel prices are also on the rise; Indonesia (13%), Malaysia (17%), and Thailand (2%).

Johan Svanstrom, the managing director of Hotels.com Asia Pacific, commented on the findings by saying that China is clearly leading the current travel and hospitality sector recovery in Asia, and the nation is seeing a strong return of business and leisure demand. He added that hotel prices in China's second and third tier cities were growing faster than in the first tier cities.

The HPI tracks the actual prices paid per hotel room rather than hotels' advertised rates. It is based on prices actually paid by customers for 110,000 hotels around the world. The latest HPI looks at hotel prices for the period January to December 2010, compared to the same period the year before.