The Most Expensive U.S. Cities To Visit

If you vacationed in New York or Honolulu in 2010, chances are you got a pretty good deal on a hotel room. Room rates in North America's priciest cities declined for a second straight year in 2010. The bad news for tourists (or good news for the industry): Price declines slowed markedly last year from the freefall of 2009, and they're swinging back up in many spots this year.

Hotel prices in most of North America's most expensive cities--New York, Honolulu, Boston, and Chicago, among others--declined by an average of 2% in 2010, according to the latest Hotel Price Index from hotels.com. A soft year, but a big improvement from 2009, when prices in most of the same cities fell 10% or more from 2008. New York, which had to absorb the added capacity of about 4,000 new rooms in 2009 while dealing with the recession, saw its average room rate drop more than 20%, to $199. Big Apple prices dipped again in 2010, but only 2.4%, to $194 a night, making it the most expensive city to spend a night in the U.S.

Prices ended 2010 at roughly 2004 levels, says Hotels.com Vice President Victor Owens, the net result of a two-year slump cancelling out the four years of growth that preceded it. "There is still value (for consumers) in the marketplace, but we seem to be slowly climbing out of the ditch," says Owens. Prices outside the major markets rose a bit, he notes, especially in high-income niche areas. California tells the tale: Two pricey spots, Monterey and Santa Barbara, replaced San Diego and San Francisco in the top 10. "The first wave of leisure travelers that comes back is the affluent one," says Owens.

Others making the top 10 for 2010: Washington, D.C., ($140 a night, down a few dollars from 2009) and Miami ($139.58, virtually unchanged). Both are perennial placeholders on the list--Washington thanks to its trove of landmarks and drivable distance from many population centers, Miami thanks to its status as an international hub that attracts travelers from south of the border.

A peek at 2011 shows an early surge in demand and prices. According to Expedia.com, average prices during January, February and early March were up from last year, as much as 20% or so in Honolulu, Boston, Miami and Washington, D.C.

And what might be the story of the year in the hotel business: the recovery of New Orleans some five years after Hurricane Katrina. Hotel prices in the Big Easy rose to an average of $132.27 in 2010, from $118 in 2009, according to Hotels.com data. And Expedia's numbers show they've shot up even further in early 2011, to about $150 a night.

Both leisure travelers and conventions are making their way back to New Orleans. The Saints' Super Bowl win last year didn't hurt. What better advertisement for your city than thousands partying in the French Quarter in front of millions on national television? City officials took that ball and parlayed it into a strong promotional message, according to Owens. "It's a good growth story; they're just doing a very good job of getting out there and promoting themselves," he says.