Bangalore among Top 5 Expensive Cities Globally: Survey

PTI

New Delhi, Aug 25: Rush of multinationals to the global back-office headquarter Bangalore has placed the city among the world's five most expensive cities in terms of hotel rents, even as India's financial capital Mumbai has seen the biggest ever rise in rentals, says a survey.

Moscow remains the most expensive city with average room rates of 236.06 pounds (Rs 19,433), compared to 220.57 pounds in 2006, according to a survey by UK-based corporate travel consultant HRG.

Moscow is followed by New York City at the second slot (180.29 pound), Dubai (166.73 pound), Paris (165.84 pound) and Bangalore, which has an average room rent of 162.04 pounds (Rs 13,341) for the first six months of 2007.

Interestingly, Mumbai has witnessed the highest rise of 30 per cent in average room rates at 147.55 pounds (Rs 12,147) over the last six months. In 2006, the metropolis had witnessed a 49 per cent rise in average rates.

The rise in rates have been fuelled by a limited supply of hotels with rooms moving in the upper end of the market to meet the demand from the expansion in the banking, finance and IT sectors.

"With India's 'open skies' policy and an expansion in capacity at Mumbai's International Airport, the city has been exposed to increased traffic into the region and as a result average rates have increased significantly," HRG report said.