Travel and Lifestyle Press Releases Thursday June 18, 2015 15:22 

Bangkok–18 Jun–Spark Communications

The latest Hotels.com™ Hotel Price IndexTM (HPI®) reveals top Thai destinations became more affordable in 2014

The Hotels.com™ Hotel Price IndexTM (HPI®) shows hotel price drops at Thai top destinations in 2014, when compared with the year before. The HPI is based on bookings made on Hotels.com sites and prices shown are those actually paid by customers per room per night, including taxes and fees rather than advertised rates. 

According to official figures, international visitor arrivals to Thailand fell 6.6% to just under 25 million during a year punctuated in its first few months by political protests, a coup, a nationwide curfew and the imposition of martial law. Moreover, top Thai destination for overseas travellers such as Pattaya, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Hua Hin and Koh Phi Phi experienced hotel price drops in 2014, as the latest Hotels.com HPI reports. Average hotel prices in Koh Phi Phi dropped by 18%, while Pattaya and Koh Phangan dropped by 15% and 10%, respectively.

Meanwhile, rising star destinations like Sukhothai, Rayong, Koh Chang, Koh Samet and Klaeng were on the rise and oversea travellers paid up to 6,412 THB per night. Sukhothai hotel prices rose by 2% in average and Rayong hotel prices rose by 4% in average. However, the dark horse of them all has to be Klaeng, with a whopping high rise of 19%, from 2,740 THB to 3,248 THB per room per night.

When looking at the top searched Thai destinations during the Labour Day and Coronation Day long holiday, during May 1st – 5th, 2015, the results reveals that Thai top destinations remains popular among the travellers, despite their hotel price drops. Leading the top searched destinations are Hua Hin, followed by Pattaya and Cha-Am. This might be because of their proximity to Bangkok. However, rising stars like Koh Chang and Koh Samet also make the top 10, ranking at number 7 and number 10, respectively.