London and Edinburgh hotels see August bookings soar
The latest forward looking data from TravelClick revealed that almost half of London hotel rooms (50.6 per cent) are already booked for August, a 5.8 per cent increase on August 2013 bookings.
Bookings over the weekends are particularly high, with two thirds of rooms filled on Saturday nights throughout the month.
This makes London the second-most popular city for hotel rooms in August, beating Paris and Barcelona in bookings terms.
Only Amsterdam hotels are enjoying higher bookings rates – with average August bookings at 54.8 per and almost three quarters of all hotel rooms filled in the Dutch city for the first weekend of the month.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Meanwhile, data from Trivago revealed that hotel availability in Edinburgh will drop to just 18 per cent during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is running from 1-25 August.
Prices in the Scottish capital will also soar by 36 per cent during the festival, with an average one night stay in a hotel setting visitors back £196, up from £144 during July.
According to Trivago, the most expensive evening in Edinburgh is Saturday 16 August, when hotel prices have reached an average of £232.
However Denise Bartlett, UK public relations spokesperson for Trivgo, said that while the August price hikes in Edinburgh are significant, they are much lower than those seen in Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games, and in Edinburgh last New Year’s Eve.
“Hoteliers have been subjected to online criticism for these price hikes, particularly during the Commonwealth Games. Perhaps Edinburgh hoteliers realised it would be unfair to raise prices for a full 24 days," she explained.
