Price of night in hotel goes up again. - According to “hotels.com”, the Expedia hotel room reservation site, for the first time since the end of 2007 the average price of a hotel room in the world has gone up (+2%), following seven consecutive quarterly falls. The average price is now at 2003 and 2004 levels in most developed countries. The Asia-Pacific region was the only area to register any noticeable increase. The main factors promoting the stabilisation or price rise are the increase in business travel (more in North America than in Europe), the overall improvement in the macro-economic situation and the slowdown in increasing hotel capacity. In brief: 1) cultural capitals of Europe (Western Europe) are beginning to recover but this year on year rise is based on the very low starting point in the second quarter of 2009. Although certain average increases sometimes appeared to be above 10%, prices in many cities have only just managed to return to their 2004 levels; 2) increase in American cities. For eurozone travellers, the hotels in the main US destinations have become more expensive over the last year. The price of hotel rooms in New York increased by 9% between the second quarter of 2009 and the second quarter of this year. This trend is similar in both Washington and Las Vegas (+14%), as well as in Miami and Boston (+6%) and even in San Francisco (+5%); 3) prices are still falling in Eastern Europe. There has been no improvement in Eastern Europe: over the past year, prices fell in several capitals and well-known destinations such as Riga (-8%), Tallinn (-6%) and even Budapest (-7%); 4) the 2010 World Cup provoked a sharp shift towards South Africa. In the Cape, the effect of the World Cup saw a 35% increase in hotel prices in the second quarter of 2010, compared to prices in the second quarter of the previous year. (I.L./transl.fl)