European hotels slashing room rates to attract visitors

Hotels operators across Europe are lowering their prices by as much as 50 per cent in a bid to entice Britons to the continent during the continuing economic downturn, according to a leading online accommodation booking agency.

The commercial manager of Hotel Connect, Ian Ackland, said that hotel operators’ concerns about bookings over the winter are leading to discounts at record levels. Hotel Connect offers hotel rooms in over 200 destinations.

“Hoteliers have always dropped their rates by five or ten per cent at the start of winter, but only for a couple of weeks. These reductions are at an unprecedented level – we are now seeing cuts of up to 50 per cent for the next two or three months, as hoteliers recognise that this thing [economic downturn] is not going to go away.”

Ackland noted that hotels in cities including Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris and Prague are offering the largest discounts, as the strength of the euro against both the pound and the US dollar is keeping tourists away.

Hotels in Dubai hotels are offering discounts of as much as a third of normal rates, he added. The pound has dropped by a third against the UAE dirham this year.

Travel analysts predicted last month that hotels would reduce capacity, by closing off some floors to reduce costs during the downturn, rather than reduce rates. Bookings have slowed since their predictions, however.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.hotelconnect.co.uk