Budget Hotel Report - California 2012

June 12, 2012

Summer vacationers who are planning a trip to California’s Napa Valley will be spending top dollar if they plan to stay in Yountville. A new survey by CheapHotels.org has ranked the wine country locale as the most expensive California destination based on the cost of an overnight accommodation there. In coming up with the list, the site performed a price comparison of hotels in 30 California destinations for the prime summer time period of June to August 2012.

An overnight stay in Yountville will set visitors back, on average, $327 for the cheapest available double room. This is 28 percent more than the average hotel room will cost in the second-place finisher, Santa Monica. This popular LA area beachfront city comes in at number two with an average accommodation cost of $256 per night. Snagging the number three spot is another beach town in southern Orange County. In the seaside resort of Laguna Beach, travelers will pay at least $197 nightly to stay in a double room.

Where do top California destinations like San Francisco and Los Angeles rank? In both the City by the Bay and San Diego, summer hotel rates are averaging around $100 per night. This price tag puts Frisco and San Diego in the number 16 and 18 slots respectively on the CheapHotels.org list. In LA, rooms are even more budget-friendly at an overnight rate of a mere $52 for the cheapest available double room. As a result, Los Angeles is one of the least expensive California destinations this summer.

The full list of rankings are as follows:

1. Yountville $327
2. Santa Monica $256
3. Laguna Beach $197
4. Avalon $187
5. Sonoma $182
6. Calistoga $181
7. Carmel $145
8. Pacific Grove $134
9. Napa $129
10. Dana Point $125
11. Santa Barbara $117
12. Pismo Beach $113
13. Santa Cruz $104
14. Mendocino $105
15. Carlsbad $103

16. Monterey $99
17. San Francisco $97
18. San Diego $92
19. Ventura $91
20. Berkeley $87
21. Morro Bay $86
22. San Jose $78
23. Long Beach $74
24. Oceanside $73
25. Eureka $62
26. Oakland $61
27. Anaheim $58
28. Sacramento $56
29. Los Angeles $52
30. Palm Springs $51

About the Methodology

The survey was conducted from May into June 2012. For 30 of the most popular destinations in California, the price for the cheapest available double room (minimum: 2-star hotel) was established for the following time periods: June 6–10, June 20–24, July 11–15, July 25–29, August 1–5 and August 15–19. Only such hotels located in or less than a mile from the city center/beach were considered. Based on this data, an average price was calculated for each destination.