The £1,000 hotel room

FT.com / Arts & weekend / Travel - Rise of the £1,000 hotel room:

"This is affecting the hotel industry. You can feel it in the changing demographic at leading hotels: the Russians at Badrutt’s Palace in St Moritz; the Indians at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai; and the Chinese at the Carlyle in New York. All were discernible last time I visited.
Make no mistake: price inflation for top-of-the-line luxury goods and services is racing ahead. Petrina Dolby of Capgemini says: “In 2005, the Clewi Index [cost of living extremely well] rose 4 per cent while the consumer price index rose 3.6 per cent.” Hotels are included in the basket of luxury goods monitored in the global survey.

According to Smith Travel Research, the rise in price for luxury hotels in the US stands at 8.7 per cent over the first half of 2006, almost triple the nation’s 3.2 per cent inflation rate.

The rise and rise of the $1,000 hotel room seems unstoppable, whereas five years ago it was still quite unusual,” says Glen Donovan, the managing director of Earth, a London-based travel agency for 150 high-spending clients worldwide. "