Vienna hotel prices upped after overnight record

Viennese hotels have increased their prices following a record number of overnights in the first half of this year.Online hotel comparison platform Trivago (www.trivago.co.uk/hotelprices) announced today (Thurs) a double room in the Austrian capital cost 125 Euros a night on average this month, up from 113 Euros last month.The development means Vienna is currently the 11th most expensive destination when it comes to hotel room rates among Europe’s 50 most popular cities.Vienna tourism bosses said recently double-digit increases in stays by people from Russia, France, Japan and other countries had helped the city’s hotels and pensions to a record 1.125 million overnights in July this year.The July figures – up by 15.6 per cent year on year – mean there were 5.949 million overnights in the first seven months of this year, up by 13.4 per cent year on year.The 4.8 million overnights that were registered between January and June – a 12.9 per cent year on year improvement – meant the capital had the best first six months of the year in history.Vienna police, the Economy Chamber’s Vienna department (WKW) and the Vienna Tourism Board said last month they wanted to cooperate more closely to slash crime figures.Police official Walter Hladik said they would get in touch with all four and five star resorts in eight of Vienna’s 23 districts to create tighter connections in an attempt to cut down the number of frauds, robberies and violent crime incidents.Norbert Kettner of the Vienna Tourism Board stressed that Vienna was in a “good position” in international comparisons when it came to felony figures, adding that it was important to keep the standard up and improve further.The new campaign has already drawn criticism since it focuses only on more expensive hotels in rather exclusive areas of the city, potentially ignoring parts where crime figures have traditionally been higher.