Research shows that hotels around the world have become much cheaper, with the average price of rooms 17 percent less at the beginning of this year than at the start of 2008.

The research was carried out by hotels.com, part of Expedia, a major travel chain in the United States. The economic recession has hit bookings hard, and the company expects that prices will not rise again quickly.

Some five-star hotels have stopped offering luxury services and have reduced their status to four stars, in order to reduce their prices. Others have closed down whole floors to cut costs.

Moscow hotels are showing the biggest reductions in price, with an average hotel room in the city 39 percent cheaper than last year. Hotels in Barcelona and Dublin have also become much less expensive.

Photo: Budapest hotel room (flickr.com / crcg)