Staff and courtesy photos
Rooms shown above, from left to right, are from the Golden Nugget, Monte Carlo and Palms.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | 4:30 p.m.
Thanks in part to the recession, Las Vegas has the nation's most popular and affordable hotel rooms, according to a twice-annual survey by the travel reservations Web site Hotels.com.
Rates plummeted significantly from the first half of last year, when Las Vegas was ranked 45th in hotel pricing nationwide.
Las Vegas was the top destination for domestic travelers and the No. 2 destination for international travelers, behind New York, according to the survey, which is based on Hotels.com bookings made in the last half of 2009.
Average daily rates in Las Vegas from July to December fell 18 percent to $79, the company reported. By comparison, rates were $109 per day in the first half of the year.
Las Vegas also was the nation's top U.S. travel destination in the first half of last year.
Other major cities are commanding higher prices than Las Vegas in spite of double-digit declines, the survey said. Average daily rates in Seattle were $129 in 2009, followed by $127 in San Francisco and San Diego and $119 in Los Angeles.
New York City had the nation's highest average hotel rates of $197 per day in spite of a 25 percent decline in rates last year.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy