Travel Notes

Five Star Price Check

Moscow’s exorbitant hotel prices could not withstand the economic crisis and are falling for the first time in six years, Kommersant reported. Jones Lang LaSalle said prices fell 18% in November and another 15% in December. Prior to these price drops, Moscow had the most expensive hotels in the world, according to the Hotel Price Index 2008, followed by New York and Dubai.

Occupancy in December 2008 was only 52 percent, 14 percent lower than a year previous. In past years, Moscow had a deficit of 8000+ hotel rooms, and Mayor Yury Luzhkov pushed for a program that would add over 60 thousand rooms to the Moscow hotel market.