Hong Kong ranks fourth in APAC cities with highest average hotel rates in 2014

Which cities are at the top?

The HRS Annual Hotel Price Radar says that Hong Kong takes the fourth place on the list of cities with most expensive average hotel room rates in 2014, while Melbourne, Sydney, and Singapore took the top three slots.

According to a release from HRS Corporate, based on data collected from all hotel bookings made via the HRS hotel portal in 2014, the analysis looks at per night room rates and found that hotel rates fluctuated widely across Asia-Pacific throughout the year.

With a 30 percent hike, Melbourne in Australia saw the biggest increase in hotel room rates in 2014. This can be attributed to the burgeoning MICE sector in Melbourne.

The state-driven initiative to position Melbourne as the events capital of the world and boost tourism through meetings and events seems to have borne fruit in 2014. Closely following Melbourne is sister city Sydney, which takes the second spot on the hotel rooms rate list.

Here's more from HRS Corporate:

Hotel room rates are a key indicator of both tourism and business travel levels throughout the year and our analysis shows that companies have confidence in the APAC region and are continuing to push for global growth ," said Todd Arthur, Managing Director APAC at HRS while commenting on the HRS Annual Price Radar.

"HRS' goal is to support businesses as they address business travel related challenges, and identify smarter, strategic and more cost effective accommodation solutions that allow their employees to do their best work while on the move."

HRS' analysis also revealed the varying impact of political instability in different countries. Bangkok experienced a 10 percent drop in room rates in 2014, as it struggled to overcome the impact of the tenuous political situation and unrest that plagued Thailand mid last year.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, which takes the fourth place on the list of most expensive cities in terms of hotel room rates, witnessed a drop of less than a percentage point even with the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement taking place in the second half of the year.

Hong Kong's relatively more established position as a financial and business hub in Asia-Pacific might be one of the reasons for this discrepancy.

Hotel rates in other economic powerhouses such as Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Beijing, hotel room rates remained fairly stable with a less than five percent change as compared to the previous year.