Singapore is 37th most expensive city for lodging for travellers: Survey

SINGAPORE — The Republic has been ranked as the 37th most expensive city among 150 cities when it comes to accommodation costs for travellers, according to a new survey by GoEuro, a Berlin-based travel search website.

According to GoEuro’s 2014 Accommodation Price Index, which covered 150 cities and more than 60,000 properties, a night in Singapore would cost on average US$94 (S$124). The cost, rounded to the nearest dollar, is an average of the price for a night at an Airbnb property, a hostel and a one-, two-, three- and four-star hotel. (See below for a list of the cost per night at each accommodation in Singapore.)

New York in the United States was ranked first with an average cost of US$246, followed by St Moritz in Switzerland (US$183) and Macau in China (US$168).

Hong Kong was the 15th most expensive city with an average cost of US$125, while Tokyo was ranked 38th with an average cost of US$94. The latter was ranked one place below Singapore because the average price, before rounding to the nearest dollar, was less than Singapore’s. Kuala Lumpur was ranked 137th with an average cost of US$43.

The least most expensive city was Tirana in Albania where a night costs on average US$32.

GoEuro noted that accommodation is the number one expense for both business and leisure travellers, topping the price of transport by 25 per cent and dining by 40 per cent. “With the traveller in mind, we have not factored local purchasing power into the calculations in order to reflect real world prices,” it added.

GoEuro also pointed out that the increasing popularity of online community Airbnb and the continued growth of the hostel industry are now important factors for travellers considering where to spend the night. For Airbnb pricings, GoEuro averaged the median cost of booking an entire property for two and four people over a range from June 1 to Dec 31 this year to include both high and low season periods.

To calculate hotel room prices, GoEuro averaged the median prices for hotels in each city for a stay in over a range from June 1 to Dec 31. It also factored in prices for one person as well as, two and four people, and divided the total to get the price shown. Data was collected directly from hotels and several online aggregators.

How much it would cost for a night in Singapore:

Airbnb: US$137

Hostel: US$21

One-star hotel: US$50

Two-star hotel: US$85

Three-star hotel: US$110

Four-star hotel: US$160

Five-star hotel: US$259