Canada is no longer the land of the Great Cheap Vacation for Americans. "Due to the increase of the value of the Canadian dollar, Canadians are traveling south and Americans are staying home," says Michelle Colligan, of Montreal's Loews Hotel Vogue. "Montreal's average daily room rates have dropped 10 percent in Canadian dollars since 2000, but increased 20 percent in U.S. dollars. This has not boded well for hotels like ours." But, adds Colligan, the health care is still a bargain.
Once considered a travel bargain compared to its Western European neighbors, the Czech capital is rapidly losing its cost advantage. Prague's posh shopping boulevard, Parizska, is now one of the most expensive addresses in all of Europe. Even riding Prague's metro has risen sharply in price—a transfer ticket recently jumped from 12 crowns (75 cents) to 25 crowns ($1.55). A dinner of fine dining on Vltava now runs to at least $200, more than double what it was in 2000. The Czech Crown is already pegged to the euro, which will become the official local currency sometime around 2012. When that happens, expect to pay even more for that once famously cheap Czech beer.
Like so many other Asia's cities, Vietnam's capital has seen a boom in its luxe sector in recent years as its economy grows, and that means another former bargain for Americans is growing into its own with the prices to prove it. According to LuxuryTravelVietnam.com, four- and five-star hotels in the year 2000 averaged between $120 and 150 per room; today, the range is $180 to $340 and creeping upwards. The better restaurants in the city cost about 30 percent more than they did eight years ago.
After the financial crisis of 1998, Westerners flocked to Thailand for cheap shopping and to snap up second homes on the beach. But in recent years the Bangkok property market has regained its balance, and it's getting more and more expensive to buy a piece of paradise in Thailand. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate firm, the average price for a new condominium is now 81,000 baht per square meter ($2,500), 55 percent above the pre-crisis peak. Hotel prices have also been rising apace.
A luxury-class traveler visiting the Russian capital for the first time since the economic crisis of 1998 would have a hard time recognizing the city. The economy is surging at a clip reflected in room rates. "Back in 1999 or 2000, the best rooms in the city were at the Baltschug Kempinski Hotel, which cost about $800 a night," said Sergey Logvinov, a consultant in the local high-end hospitality sector. Today, there's a proliferation of five-star accommodation, from boutique hotels to global chains like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton. At the latter, you can spend 18,000 of your weak dollars for a single night in the (admittedly massive) 2,550-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Suite. In Moscow these days, $800 is closer to the floor than the ceiling when it comes to luxe accommodation.
China may be famous in the U.S. for its cheap manufactured goods, but it's getting more and more expensive to spend a night in one of the Chinese capital's better hotels. As recently as a few years ago you could still go five-star for $60 a night, but room prices have been rising in anticipation of the Olympics. As the dollar declines, high-end options in China proliferate—a far cry from the days not so long ago when Beijing struggled to accommodate a growing flow of Western tourists and business travelers. New luxe developments in the Chinese capital include the Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton (six different developments), The Hyatt (12 properties on the way), the Mandarin Oriental, the Intercontinental and Amanresorts.
Just how expensive has Western Europe become for Americans? Consider this: In 2000, tickets to a black-tie high-society ball at the famous Vienna Opera Hall cost the equivalent of $250—not bad, for one of the most glamorous nights out in Vienna. Today, just having dinner at The Altwienerhof, near Schönbrunn Castle, routinely costs $250. The same goes for two standard seats at the renowned Vienna Opera—they're 79 euros apiece, or nearly $250 for two. The Austrian capital's ongoing deep integration with nearby Bratislava, meanwhile, means that the formerly cheap Slovak capital is, like Prague, inching its way toward Western European prices.
As expensive as the Eurozone has become for Americans, it is rivaled in cost by England and its pound sterling, which like the euro has steadily increased in value against the dollar over the last several years. In 2000, you could secure the Ashburn Suite at London's Bentley Kempinski hotel for around $1,100. Today, that same suite would cost the American traveler $1,600. If there is a bright side to the pound's value being nearly twice the value of the dollar, it's easier to do the mental math whilst shopping.
The weak dollar has had a surprise effect on hotel prices even here at home. From Manhattan to Vegas to Hawaii, the weak dollar has drawn increased numbers of European vacationers to America and kept more American vacationers inside U.S. borders. Together, this has decreased room availability and increased average rates. The Honolulu Advertiser recently reported that the average room rate has been on a steady rise, to its current $213.49. USA Today reports that nationally, 72 percent of hotel rooms will be occupied over the Memorial Day weekend, the highest level since 2000. In New York, the average room rate has spiked 5.5 percent in the last year, to $304.52.