According to the monthly Hotel Price Index (HPI) published recently by Internet travel portal Trivago, the average rate for a night across the hotels in Spain at the beginning of 2012 is now €87. That’s just one euro cheaper than at the end of last year.

Within this headline rate some cities in Spain recorded significant price fluctuations. For example, hotels in cities such as Pamplona and Santiago de Compostela have managed to raise their average price by 14 percent compared with last month. A night in a hotel in Las Palmas will now cost you around 7 percent more than in December whilst hotels in the Caceres area are now showing a decrease of some 20 percent compared to last month.

There are also many variations on price depending on which autonomous region in Spain we might be travelling to. The hotels in Galicia and Navarre, for example, have increased their prices by around 9 percent, whilst hotel rates in La Rioja have dropped by 21 percent this month and it is now the cheapest region in Spain with an average nightly rate of just €64. Other regions where it will be cheap to stay during January are Valencia, with an average room rate of €68, Castille-Leon and Aragon both at…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

The average price of hotels in Spain decreased by around 9 percent in November, that’s according to the monthly THPI survey carried out recently by travel portal Trivago in Spain. Although a decline in prices is considered normal at this time of year, due to the fact that we are now firmly in what is considered the low season, nevertheless the percentage fall was higher than in October when hotel rates fell by some 6 percent across Spain.

The biggest drop in prices was among hotels in the region of La Rioja in northern Spain where prices fell by some 21 percent. This was followed by hotels in Andalusia where prices were 18% lower, then Catalonia down 15% and then the Basque country and Galicia, both down 12%. At this time of the year it looks like some of the cheapest hotel rooms in Spain can be found in the regions of Murcia and Galicia, where rooms can be had for an average of €64 and €63 respectively.

In contrast, the most expensive hotels in Spain in November were those on the Balearic Islands where a night in a hotel would set you back €110 on average, then Catalonia at €108 per night, and then came the hotels in Madrid and the…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

In August the hotels located in the Balearic Islands were among the most expensive of all the most popular tourist destinations in Spain. Last month the hotels in this part of Spain experienced price increases of some 18 percent achieving an average price of €151 per night. During the same period the prices in the hotels in the Canary Islands rose by 13 percent to an average of €94 per night. This information was extracted from the monthly HPI (Hotel Price Index) survey produced by Internet travel portal trivago.es. The survey showed that prices also rose about 10 percent along the Mediterranean coast. In some places like Benidorm there was an increase of 12 percent meaning a night in the popular resort would set you back, on average, €145 whilst in Salou prices were up 6 percent to €167 per night.

The study also highlighted Marbella, where hotel prices exceeded €200 per night in August and stood at an average of €220, representing an increase of nine percent over the previous month. Thus, the prices in hotels in Malaga overtook other popular destinations in Spain, like Madrid and Barcelona, which at many other times of the year are normally more expensive than Malaga. This August hotel prices in Barcelona were averaging €120…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

Hiking, diving and all sorts of adventure sports are now being promoted as holiday options to attract new tourists to Spain in addition to those who seek the traditional two-week, beach holiday. All across Spain hotels have started to seek synergies with other activity-based businesses in their vicinity so that they can promote a wider selection of holiday options to potential guests.

For example, the Abba Huesca hotel recently came third place in a list of the best hotels in Spain for enjoying an active holiday as produced by travel portal trivago.es. Guests have can enjoy walking or hiking both in the great natural environment that surrounds the town of Huesca or in the Natural Park of La Sierra Guara and the Pyrenees mountains which are not too far away. The nearby Canyons of  Guara also provide many opportunities for practising a wide variety of outdoor adventure activities like canyoning. The nearby natural environment is characterized by great cliffs and the large and beautiful ‘Gorgas Negras’ are located just a few miles from Huesca. The four star Abba Huesca is just a short walking distance from the fantastic natural landscape offered by the ‘Mallos de Riglos’, an area characterized by large rock formations ideal for climbing. The hotel is also near the Somontano Winery for…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

According to a recent survey of the users of the hotel booking engine hotel.info, the five star Alameda Palace Hotel located in Salamanca in central Spain, achieved an average score of 9.4 out of ten. This score situates the hotel at the top of the table in the evaluation of luxury hotels in Spain as rated by users of the site.

Salamanca is one of those towns in Spain that is off the normal tourist track but is definitely worth a visit. It is known for its beautiful medieval architecture and famous central square, the Plaza Mayor, which is surrounded by cafés and restaurants. The Old Town was declared a UNESCO world heritage site back in 1988 and it is the most important university town in Spain. The university was founded in 1218 and today’s 30,000 students ensure the town has a diverse multicultural feel beyond an ordinary town of this size. So, if you fancy a visit it is worth considering a stay at the Alameda Palace, just five minutes from the Plaza Mayor at No1 Paseo de La Estacion.

Second place in the survey, as far as hotels in Spain are concerned, was taken by the hotel Duques de Medinaceli in Cadiz. The hotel is also a five star establishment and obtained an…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

The hotel brand Campanile, which is owned by the Louvre Hotels Group, expects to exceed €2.5 million in turnover in Spain over the summer months and it is projecting that more than 90,000 people will stay in one of the eight hotels the chain currently operates in Spain over this peak period of the year.

The chain recently reported that six out of every ten bookings for their hotels in Spain this summer came from international tourists, mainly from France followed by other neighboring European countries. Overall, occupancy rates are expected to increase by six points this summer when compared to the same period last year and is projected to average 75 percent. The busiest hotels the chain has in Spain will be the ones in Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante, Las Rozas and Alcala de Henares. These last two, both located in satellite towns near Madrid, will achieve 100 percent occupancy during the week of 16 to 21 August when Pope Benedict XVI will visit the capital of Spain.

The group reports that the average customer of Campanile hotels stays two to three days with the family in the summer period and usually takes advantage of added services such as half board and late checkout which allows you to stay until late afternoon to…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

Hotel chain Travelodge is currently offering very special autumn promotional prices which well-organised travellers can take advantage of if they plan to take a mini-break or weekend in Spain this coming autumn. The hotel chain has thousands of rooms available from €10 per night for stays between 01 September and 31 December this year across many of its more than 470 hotels in Spain and the UK.

Travelodge’s expansion into Spain in well under way and work on the new Travelodge hotel in Valencia, the Travelodge Valencia Aeropuerto, is reported to be at a very advanced stage and the budget hotel chain expects to open the hotel later this month. The new Travelodge hotel in Valencia will have 116 rooms and, as the name suggests, is located very near the Airport of Manises and, in fact, is only 2 minutes away by underground. The hotel is also connected to Valencia city centre by two different metro lines so guests should not have to wait around long should they want to get into the city centre.

In Barcelona, the group has also begun construction of its second hotel in the Catalan capital. When completed the Travelodge Barcelona Rambla Poble Nou will have 250 rooms, 98 parking spaces and a cafe-bar that can hold up to…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

British newspaper ‘The Times‘ recently recognised the Parador in Santiago de Compostela as one of the top five hotels in Spain when it comes to the quality of cuisine available. The newspaper included an article that highlighted the history, location and quality interiors of the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos which is located right in the heart of the Galician capital in the northwest of Spain.

The Times gave particular praise to this Galician hotel in a report about the most desirable destinations in Spain for the lovers of fine cuisine. In addition to highlighting the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos, the newspaper included four other establishments in Spain in the article which it felt merited inclusion because of the quality of their cuisine and which had other interesting aspects of note.

In the case of the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos, The Times highlighted its great historical heritage and prime location next to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the very centre of the capital of Galicia. Both buildings form a right angle on the famous Plaza do Obradoiro and the hotel can rightly claim the title of being the oldest hotel in the world as it was founded in 1499. The hotel was set up in the Middle Ages to provide shelter and give assistance to…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

The hotel group Domus Hotels, which is based in the city of Oviedo in the north of Spain, has taken over the management of the Hotel Almirante, which is located in the traditional and popular seafront of the Playa de San Juan in Alicante. The hotel is on Avenida de Niza and it is the only hotel in the area which can provide direct access to the ever popular beach.

The agreement with the current owners was reached by using a commercial franchise contract and involves the maintenance and running of both the hotel, its cafeteria and restaurant, meeting rooms and banqueting facilities. This latest addition is aimed at enhancing the position and reputation of Domus hotels within the tourism sector in Spain and means that the group now has a total of 18 hotel establishments spread throughout the country. The chain is on track with its strategic expansion plan and indeed intends to add even more hotels before the end of this year. Domus hotels say they are actively seeking and negotiating new expansion projects throughout Spain in cities such as Valladolid, Burgos, Vitoria, Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and La Coruña.

The Hotel Almirante in Alicante is a three star establishment aimed primarily at summer tourists who are seeking a…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

According to a recent report released by the Spanish version of the famous international hotel booking engine Hotels.com, the hotels in Spain continue to have a very strong presence among the searches performed by visitors to the site from many varied countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, UK, Ireland, France, Portugal and Switzerland.

The hotels on the island of Ibiza occupy the first position in popularity among Swedish users of Hotels.com and in fact there has been an increase of some 543 percent in searches for hotels on the island when compared with the same period last year. It looks like many Swedes intend to have a summer full of sun, sea and clubbing. Ibiza came in in fourth position among Internet searchers in the UK and Portugal which represents an increase of 370 and 384 percent respectively over last year. Hotels on the island were also in particular demand from searchers in Norway, Germany and Ireland.

The hotels in Barcelona were particularly popular among on-line hotel searchers in Norway, Russia, Portugal and Switzerland. The most striking case is that of Russia where the hotels in Barcelona experienced an incredible 546 percent increase in the number of queries from that country over 2010.

The hotels in the ever popular Balearic and…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News