Accommodation search website Trivago has revealed that hotels in London have increased their prices by almost two-thirds ahead of the King’s coronation.
Axel Hefer, CEO of Trivago, told the PA news agency that the group has seen hotel prices in the capital rise 60% year on year ahead of coronation day on May 6, with prices reaching £254 per night for early bookers.
This compared to £154 per night for the same day last year.
But as hotels raise their prices to take advantage of the expected surge in visitors around Charles’s coronation, Trivago said booking trends suggest many visitors are avoiding London on the day of the ceremony.
King’s Coronation Day” data-source=”Trivago”>
The booking data shows that searches for the capital on the day of the coronation are lower than in the weekends before and after the ceremony, while searches for London are also down 8% compared to the same day last year.
Trivago said that “given the very high prices, people would rather not travel to the British capital on the day of the coronation”.
Mr Hefer said that while this year’s coronation day is an outlier in terms of prices, the group sees hotel prices generally continuing to rise across the board.
He said hotel prices will rise by low single digits to high single digits this year, on top of increased prices in 2022.
Travelers are combating higher prices by switching to cheaper destinations, such as Istanbul, Morocco and Portugal, and domestic staycations, while also starting to book shorter stays.
But they are also showing signs of downsizing, with Trivago seeing trends of vacationers opting for lower star ratings for hotels and cheaper accommodations to lower costs.
Mr Hefer said people are unlikely to abandon their holidays altogether in 2023, despite high cost pressures, following years of Covid travel restrictions.
People will still go on vacation and get away from it all, but they will try to do it cheaper
Alex Hefer, Trivago
“People will still go on vacation and take a break, but they’ll try to do it cheaper,” he said.
He added: “It is very likely that the travel market will rise this year, but the question is by how much.
“To what extent will people offset current price increases by downtrading?”
His comments came after Germany-based Trivago, of which Expedia has a majority stake, reported full-year results that showed it fell to a net loss of €127.2m (£112.9m) in 2021 against a profit of €10.7m (£9.5m).
The loss to the Chelsea Football Club sponsor comes after it was hit by a fine in Australia, impairments in the first half of 2022 and the lack of a government Covid grant it received in 2021.
It said this was partially offset by the recovery in travel demand, with sales up 48% last year.
This continued into 2023, with referral revenue up 34% in January, although this compares to the winter of 2022, which was impacted by Omicron travel restrictions across much of Europe.