Room rates in Edinburgh hotels have been hiked from the December average of £102 up to £302 on New Year's weekend – a 196 per cent increase. The rest of the UK will also experience a rise in room rates with Manchester (29 per cent), London (22 per cent) and Dublin (22 per cent) reporting the highest premiums.
These are the findings of the trivago Hotel Price Index (tHPI) prepared each month by the hotel price comparison website www.trivago.co.uk.
The report also found that, despite these huge increases over the New Year's weekend, many UK cities are still reporting lows compared to the overall monthly average. The average for a one-night’s stay in December is £87, three per cent lower than November’s average of £89.
Blackpool and Sheffield hotels
The most significant price decrease can be found in the tourist destination of Blackpool — where one night in a standard double room costs only £59 (32 per cent decrease). Sheffield (£67) is also down this month by 23 per cent. Hotels in cities such as Birmingham (£74) and Leeds (£75) have experienced price decreases between 13 - 15 per cent; while the Welsh capital of Cardiff (£80) has reported a decrease of 8 per cent.
While December hotel prices have also fallen for hotels across the rest of Europe, Prague offered the notable statistic in its increase in room rates over New Year’s weekend: The cost of a standard double in Prague averages at a whopping £309, compared with the month’s average of £84 (a 268 per cent increase).
Last month’s tHPI revealed that average London hotel prices had risen 33 per cent in the past year to £177 per night, making the UK capital one of the main drivers for European hotel price recovery.