Royal ascent of prices

Fans of Prince William and Kate Middleton or football and the growing demand for stay-at-home holidays in Britain – “staycations”– are slowly pushing up hotel prices in towns and cities across the UK, says a new analysis.

Compiled by Hotels.com, a subsidiary of Expedia, the survey says fans of the Royal Family are partly responsible for the 20 per cent surge in hotel rates in St Andrews, by far the most expensive place to stay in the entire country.

The rise in St Andrews was also boosted by its hosting of the British Golf Open Championships, which persuaded many golfing enthusiasts to come back for a second or third stay.

A room in the Scottish university city where Kate Middleton first met Prince William cost £162 in 2010 – compared with £114 in London, £101 in Edinburgh and £84 in Brighton.

The Lake District, hugely popular with “staycation” visitors, saw room rates surge too: a room in Bowness-on-Windermere cost £142 in 2010, against £115 the previous year. In nearby Ambleside, rooms cost £113, up six per cent on 2009.

But in Bath, another big favourite with stay-at-home holidaymakers, room rates rose by only two per cent in 2010 – to £113. Oxford (boosted by a 20 per cent jump in US visitors) enjoyed a nine per cent jump to £99. Bournemouth rose by seven per cent to £73.

Hotel room rates have also soared in towns and cities where football teams have hit a successful run: Norwich rates are up by 38 per cent in 2010 to £78, following the team’s promotion to the Championship.

Stoke, holding firm in the Barclays Premiership, saw rates rise by 28 per cent to £59 and Wolverhampton, promoted to the same league, saw a 27 per cent rise to £46.

A hotel room in the UK cost a UK traveller an average £83 in 2010, two per cent more than in 2009. Travellers from the eurozone paid an average 10 per cent more for a hotel room in London in 2010 than they did one year before.

Thanks largely to the budget hotels boom at the bottom end of the market, Britain is the 33rd cheapest nation for hotel prices out of 44 countries surveyed.

Globally, hotel prices have got back to the level of 2004 – which is great news for travellers who reckon they get the best value by arranging their own flights and accommodation around the world.