Hotels.com® continues to uncover the dining costs of hotels worldwide with its annual price barometer, the Club Sandwich Index (CSI). This year, the elevated report by Hotels.com — the CSI 2.0 — covers three additional hotel dining items to make the Index a more comprehensive indicator for travelers to understand the costs associated with a full day of dining at hotels worldwide.
The CSI 2.0 incorporates the average prices of four main dining options available at three-, four- and five-star hotel properties, including: a burger meal (burger, fries and soda) for lunch, a cup of coffee, a club sandwich and a glass of house red wine for dinner.
Based on findings from the CSI 2.0, Geneva is not only the priciest city for a club sandwich ($30.59), but the Swiss city has also topped the charts as the most expensive destination to enjoy a full day hotel dining experience at $86.71. Bogota, Columbia is the most affordable destination to enjoy a full day of meals with an average price of $30.08, but Rio de Janeiro ($34.19) and Buenos Aires ($40.28) also give the Colombian capital a run for its money with affordable dining costs.
While nine international cities top New York for the most expensive full day of meals, New York has the sixth-most expensive burger meal average at $24.26. Rome does not have the most affordable club sandwich, but its price decreased by 32 percent, dropping nine places from the 2014 Index to an average of $14.53.
Hotel guests in South Korea pay the most to get their caffeine fix, with Seoul dominating the list for the priciest cup of coffee at $9.72 on average. Guests at 5-star hotels in Paris pay more for a glass of house red wine ($23.03) than a club sandwich in 19 other cities, including New York, Dublin, Sydney and Berlin.
A supplementary poll within the U.S. found that New York’s average meal cost of $59.64 is also the most expensive among 10 major cities. The most affordable club sandwich among the additional U.S. cities surveyed can be found in San Diego, while Orlando and Las Vegas offer the most affordable coffee and wine, respectively. Orlando had the most affordable average meal cost at $41.93, yet that price exceeded eight major global city averages including Berlin, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Madrid, Rio de Janiero, Mexico City and Bogota.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
