Hotels in Britain are the costliest in Europe, with the price of an overnight stay in London rising by 22 per cent last year.

The average price for a room in the capital was £107 but Bath, at an average of £114 per night, offers the nation’s most expensive lodging.

Travel experts say that the rapid increase in London hotel rates is because of the city’s resilience as a tourist destination for domestic as well as overseas visitors. Its status has recovered strikingly after the terrorist bombings of 2005. Prices have risen also as growing numbers of executives flock to the City and shoppers visit for Christmas and the January sales.

Russians are the biggest spenders and will pay an average of £127 a night, but British visitors are still willing to splash out on a short break at an average of £100 for a night.

The upmarket image of Bath and its large number of top hotels has helped to sustain its higher prices. It is particularly popular with Londoners as a West Country city break with the promise of good shopping and restaurants. The opening of the Thermae Bath Spa has also been a factor in the willingness of travellers to pay for a stay in a luxury hotel.

The figures are compiled from data gathered from millions of travellers who book accommodation via the website hotels.com, which lists 20,000 hotels in more than a thousand locations worldwide.

The overall average cost of a night in a British hotel is £98.

Patrick Oqvist, marketing director of hotels.com, said: “There is a vibe about London and its culinary revolution has given the city a trendy and interesting perspective.”

He pointed out that British people had changed their holiday patterns and, instead of a traditional summer holiday plus one city break during the year, they now wanted a portfolio of year-round breaks; this was encouraging people to explore different parts of Britain.

The best bargains are to be found in the Midlands with a night in Birmingham costing £74, Coventry £67 and Nottingham £61. Birmingham was also capitalising as a business centre because of its hotels, the National Exhibition Centre, and international airport.

The most expensive city in the world for a hotel room is Moscow, with the average price of £172 per night. Tourists concerned about security prefer to stay in four or five-star hotels and this is believed to have had some impact on prices.

Bangkok is the cheapest destination, with a room costing £44 a night; but this represents a 58 per cent increase. The Thai capital has long been a stop on the backpackers’ trail but older and wealthier people are now choosing to visit the city and are booking into four-star and five-star hotels.

The reputation of Tallinn, in Estonia, as the capital for hen and stag celebration weekends has affected visitor numbers and prices have also dropped 6 per cent, with a hotel room now costing £51.

With a weakened dollar making transatlantic shopping sprees or midweek breaks attractive, travellers continue to head for New York, the second most expensive city in the world with an average hotel room at £155 a night.

Good deals are also to be had in Cape Town, where the price of a hotel room is down 10 per cent to £77 a night. However, the fall in prices is driven by fears over security after a spate of tourist muggings. Mr Oqvist said that Whistler, in Canada, was becoming more popular after concerns over poor snow in the Alps. He also tipped Mar-rakesh and Istanbul now that Ryanair was flying to the former and EasyJet to both.

Rising cost of a room

Average cost in UK

Bath £114 * up 6%†

London £107 up 22%

Edinburgh £95 up 4%

Aberdeen £91 up 23%

Bournem’th £76 up 3%

Glasgow £75 up 16%

Birmingham £74 up 9%

Coventry £67 up 10%

Nottingham £61 down 4%

UK average £98 up 17%

Average cost around world

Moscow £172 down 3%

New York £155 up 3%

Dubai £124 down 4%

Cancun £117 up 28%

Bali £63 up 17%

Shanghai £61 down 5%

Warsaw £60 up 4%

Tallinn £51 down 6%

Bangkok £44 up 58

*Average paid; †% change 2005-06

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