As prices continue to rise in travel, the future looks bright for budget, and the future looks orange. Sally White reports. Cynics may be sceptical, but there is really no arguing against the fact that travel and its prices continue to boom! There are just too many figures around to comfort the naysayers – air traveller numbers and room rates increases, to name just two – despite all the gloom. According to latest The Global Travel Forecast 2019 from the Global Business Travel Association and Carlson Wagonlit, price rises will be 3.4% for hotels and 1.7% for flights! Not surprising, as prices rise, is the growth in budget hotels and the hostels. Both look robust, despite incursions into their customer base by accommodation disruptors Airbnb et al.
London is an excellent illustration of the strength of the budget sector. Fuelling the city’s dramatic 70% rise in new build hotel openings has been the strong rise of budget hotel rooms, according to estate agents Knight Frank. The budget segment accounts for 67% of the 4,100 new build bedrooms, it says.
