Business Travel Tips

The average room prices of 4 and 5-star luxury hotels has significantly dropped in the first half of 2011 when compared to the same period in 2010, according to the The Hotels.com’s Hotel Price Index (HPI).

Las Vegas recorded the largest decrease among all destinations — a 22% drop for the average room prices of 4-star luxury hotels.

In Europe, the largest fall in the room price of 4-star hotels was reported in Madrid (- 8%).

In Asia, Shanghai and Tokyo posted very significant decreases, with room prices for 4 and 5-star hotels in Shanghai fallen 19% and 17% respectively and with the average room prices of the 4-star hotels in Tokyo down 5 percent.

HPI is an index based on bookings made on Hotels.com sites and tracks the real prices paid per hotel room for about 125,000 properties around the world.

Hilton launched its first quarter promotion, More Points.

The Hilton HHonors promotion offers 1,000 bonus points for every night plus an additional 5,000 bonus points for every weekend stay of two nights or more at participating hotels and resorts from January 1, 2012 through March 31, 2012.

Hilton HHonors says “weekend is defined as Thursday through Sunday”.
You can combine bonuses of per night and weekend bonus.

Details of Hilton HHonors More Points are available here.

STR Global released hotel performance data for November 2011.
Below is a table showing the three key performance metrics by region during November 2011 (year-on-year comparisons).

The following are highlights of key market performers for November 2011 (year-on-year comparisons).

- Asia Pacific
The largest increases in occupancy were recorded in Mumbai, India, +15.6% (to 75.3%) and Shanghai, China, +14.2% (to 65.9%). The largest decrease was reported by Bangkok, Thailand, where occupancy fell 16.3% (to 55.1%).

- Americas
San Juan, Puerto Rico and San Francisco, USA, reported the largest increases with a +10.1% (to 74.0%) and a +10.0% (to 75.0%) respectively. Santiago, Chile and Sao Paulo, Brazil reported the largest decreases with a -6.2% (to 81.5%) and a -4.9% (to 72.4%) respectively.

- Europe
Budapest, Hungary recorded the largest occupancy increase, +8.0% (to 53.9%); Athens, Greece, posted the largest occupancy decrease, -13.8% (to 45.0%),

- Middle East/Africa
The largest occupancy increase was recorded by Cape Town, South Africa, with an 8.2% increase (to 71.9%).
Cairo, Egypt (-47.4% to 39.2%), and Muscat, Oman (-14.5% to 60.5%) were the market reporting the largest occupancy decreases.

Hyatt announced that its loyalty program Gold Passport will also offer the chance to earn and redeem points at Hyatt property restaurants and spas.
It is a points-earning option even when you aren’t staying at the hotel.

Hyatt says that participating locations will be added throughout 2012 ( more details are available here).

The Hilton loyalty program, HHonors, launched Points Back, a promotion offering a 30% rebate on the points cost.

With Points Back offer you’ll get 30% of your points back when you use one of the two new redemption options, Premium Room Rewards and Points & Money Rewards (a combination of points and money to book a standard room).

Registration is required. To get points back in your account, just sign up and book by January 31, 2012, then complete your stay by June 30, 2012.
Details of HHonors Points Back are available here.