UK hotel prices are expected to rise by between 3 and 5 per cent in 2015, according to research from BCD Travel’s advisory arm, Advito.
The study said that it had downgraded previous forecasts for hotel rate increases in Europe due to weak demand across the continent.
Prices are now expected to rise by 1-4 per cent across Europe and by 0-3 per cent in both Germany and France. By contrast, hotel rates in the US are expected to go up by 6-7 per cent this year.
“As demand remains weak, we expect more subdued rate increases in Europe,” said Advito. "We’ve downgraded our rate expectations for France, Germany and the UK, as well as for a number of smaller markets. This has lowered the regional forecast from 2-4 per cent to 1-4 per cent.”
Advito has also revised its 2015 forecast to predict a slight fall in economy airfares for US regional journeys (-2 per cent) and intercontinental flights (-3 per cent).
In Europe, Advito expects regional airfares to fall by 1 per cent for economy bookings and rise by 1 per cent for business class.Intercontinental fares from Europe are set to drop by 1 per cent for economy tickets will business class rates are set to increase by 2 per cent.
“We expect average economy fares for both intercontinental and regional travel to fall in almost every region in 2015,” said Advito.
“Lower oil prices are encouraging airlines to grow capacity, but demand growth has not kept pace. Airlines have responded by making more lower priced seats available, meaning lower average fares for travellers.”