Hotel Index Shows Las Vegas is Still No. 1 Destination

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, APR 20, 2011

The Hotel Price Index, now in its eighth year, is a regular survey of hotel prices in major city destinations (over 18,300 locations) across the world. Some highlights from the latest Hotel Price Index findings:

--Las Vegas still holds the crown as Americans' No. 1 favorite domestic city to visit in 2010 followed by New York, Orlando, Chicago, and San Francisco while the city of Pittsburgh is slowly moving up to be one of the top 50 cities Americans love to visit.

--Big Easy's Comeback: New Orleans has been recovering steadily since Hurricane Katrina. Rooms were up 12 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, indicating a healthy comeback for the hotel industry.

--Americans continue to flock to London, Paris, and Rome but Asian cities including Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Manila are quickly becoming new favorites in 2010.

--Demand for Luxury: Top U.S. cities that saw significant increases at five-star properties in 2010 were: Boston (21 percent), Chicago (20 percent), Miami (10 percent), San Francisco (22 percent) and Washington (16 percent).