In its first Budget Hotel Report, Cheaphotels.org compared the average nightly rate of budget hotels (2 and 2.5 star hotels) in the month of August for the Top 30 United States tourist destinations. Not surprisingly, rates are highest in New York City, where visitors spend an average of $147 per night. Boston ranks second with guests spending an average of $130 per night, and San Francisco registers third with an average of $125 per night. On the other end of the spectrum, Orlando visitors only spend an average of $69 per night.
In addition, Cheaphotels.org compared hotel rates in popular neighborhoods of six top tourist cities. These findings revealed significant pricing differences. In New York's Times Square area, budget hotels averaged $225 a night while Long Island averaged only $135. Budget hotels in L.A.'s top beach cities, Santa Monica and Marina del Rey, averaged $175 while L.A.'s Downtown district offered rates of only $90 a night.
Average Hotel Rates: Top 30 U.S. Tourist Destinations
Below you will find the average rates of budget hotels during the month of August 2011 for the Top 30 U.S. tourist destination cities. (For more information about Cheaphotels.org's methodology, see the bottom of this report.)
Rank | Name of City | Avg. Rate |
1. | New York | $147 |
2. | Boston | $130 |
3. | San Francisco | $125 |
4. | Washington, D.C. | $107 |
5. | San Diego | $106 |
6. | Seattle | $105 |
7. | Philadelphia | $101 |
8. | Baltimore | $96 |
9. | Los Angeles | $93 |
10. | Chicago | $92 |
11. | Denver | $91 |
12. | Miami | $88 |
12. | San Antonio | $88 |
14. | Minneapolis | $87 |
14. | Austin | $87 |
16. | Anaheim | $85 |
17. | Indianapolis | $82 |
18. | Houston | $81 |
19. | St. Louis | $80 |
20. | Nashville | $79 |
21. | Las Vegas | $77 |
22. | Charlotte | $76 |
22. | Ft. Lauderdale | $76 |
22. | Detroit | $76 |
25. | Atlanta | $74 |
25. | Dallas | $74 |
25. | Kansas City | $74 |
28. | Tampa | $73 |
29. | Orlando | $69 |
30. | Phoenix | $63 |
City neighborhoods
Cheaphotels.org compared the average budget hotel rates in various neighborhoods in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Washington, D.C. Here are those results. (For more information about Cheaphotels.org's methodology, see the bottom of this report.)
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Chicago | Washington, D.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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San Francisco | Miami | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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About the Methodology:
The Budget Hotel Report is based on the hotel inventory of Cheaphotels.org, which equals the inventory of Expedia. Cheaphotels.org selected four dates in August (2-3, 13-14, 23-24 and 28-29), using hotel rates for a standard double room of 2 and 2.5 star hotels in the Top 30 U.S. tourist destinations. The hotels were booked approximately one month in advance, and only rates of available hotels were used. An average hotel rate was calculated for every date, and then those figures were averaged for the different dates in August. This calculation resulted in the figure used in the above ranking.
For each destination, hotels in the actual city and the "vicinity" were included. The vicinity was defined according to Expedia's definition, which includes suburbs, the area around the airport, and neighboring cities. For example, Cambridge was included in the Boston research; Georgetown was included in Washington, D.C.'s information; and Rosemont was included in Chicago's compilation.
Regarding Cheaphotels.org neighborhood comparison, the definition of the various neighborhoods was mainly taken from Expedia, although sometimes one neighborhood was split into two, or two neighborhoods were aggregated into one. And, only neighborhoods where a minimum of five budget hotels could be booked were included. For example, there weren’t enough budget hotels in Beverly Hills (Los Angeles) or in Venice Beach (Miami) to be included.