Hotel operators across Europe are being forced to cut room rates to attract guests as the eurozone crisis hits corporate budgets.
According to a biannual survey by Hogg Robinson Group, one of the world’s biggest business travel companies, average room rates fell in several leading cities in the first half of this year, with Barcelona down 22 per cent and Munich down 15 per cent.
Other eurozone cities under pressure included Dublin and Madrid, where the price of a room fell by 6 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. Hotels in several destinations reported rates no better than flat.
The average price of a room in London, where hoteliers have enjoyed remarkably robust trading over the past five years of economic turbulence, rose by