City hotels among world’s most expensive

Hotels in Aberdeen are among the most expensive in the world, a new study has revealed.

The average price for a room in the Granite City is currently around £130 a night – more costly than Berlin, Madrid and Pittsburgh.

This is an increase of 18% from 2012 when visitors paid an average of £110.23 for a room, as opposed to £89.80 in Edinburgh and £84.93 in Glasgow.

The survey, by travel specialist Hogg Robinson, showed that Aberdeen had one of the largest growths in average room rates (ARR) and was second only to London for pricey stays.

Robert Collier, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the sharp rise in hotel room rates was driven by the oil and gas industry.

He said: “The increase in city room rates reflects the effect that thehighdemand from a buoyant oil and gas sector has when combined with a restricted supply.

“The development of new and existing hotels in the city is to be welcomed as the extra capacity should help to serve the high demand while keeping prices competitive in the longer term.” The most expensive cities in 2012 were Moscow in Russia and Lagos in Nigeria, where room rates were £263.07 and £234.93 respectively.

Andrew Martin, director of the Scottish Centre of TourismatTheRobertGordon University in Aberdeen, said the economy was benefiting from the increase in room rates.

He said: “It is bringing positive investment to Aberdeen and a lot of the money is going back into the economy.

“Also as a result of this, our wage rates are good and there is more employment being made in hotels. Yes, it is more expensive, but people are getting a quality service for what they are paying.

“If you split it into the four-day stay from Monday to Thursday and then Friday to Sunday, it is goingup for the four-daymarketand that is down to business supply and demand. However, for the three-day market it is good news, as Aberdeen is consistently one of the cheaper destinations.”

Mr Stewart said he had been in correspondence with council chief executive Valerie Watts and she had his number if she wanted to ask him about his source.

He added that Labour appeared to want to “politicise” the issue but he never saw the documents and would have handed them over to the police if he had.

Mr Stewart said: “I am pleased that the police arenowlooking into this matter and I am sure that they will look diligently at this case.

“However, my main concern is for the families that are named in these documents and, in my opinion, everything possible must be done to protect all of them and they must be given all of the support and advice that they need.”

MrYoung said aprobe was under way and the people named in the documents had been contacted by officers.

Hotels in Aberdeen cost an average of £130 a night