Business travellers are downgrading from five-star to four-star hotels, according to the results of the latest American Express Corporate Travel Index.
The index, which looked at the first three months of this year, found that rates for four-star hotels in Western Europe were up almost 4% over the previous quarter while rates for five-star hotels only rose 1.5%.
This trend was reflected in North America where four-star rates rose twice as much as five-star.
The index results go against the trend in the last two years, where five-star hotels increased ahead of four-star rates.
Borge Ellgaard, Amex vice-president hotel relations group, said: “The change reflects pressure on corporate travel managers to make their corporate travel patterns most cost-effective. It is possible for corporate customers to negotiate good deals in all classes of hotels.”
Over the last two years, five-star rates have risen by 12% in Western Europe and 26% in North America while four-star rates have increased by 9% in Western Europe and 24% in North America.
The hotel index measured the lowest published corporate rate in the global distribution systems of 839 hotels in 56 cities worldwide.