Swiss hotels most expensive in the world

In order to obtain the figures, the website looked at all the rooms that had been booked through its site in 2011, and calculated the average cost of a room for one night for each country, newspaper Le Matin reported.

The website looked at a variety of different factors, but Switzerland nevertheless came out on top.

“It’s not a surprise,” Philippe Thuner of the Swiss-Romandie Hoteliers Association told Le Matin.

“It makes sense that they are so expensive with our money.”

Although the strength of the franc has an impact on room prices, other factors also pushed Switzerland to the top of the rankings, with the cost of wages and construction especially high.

“For a new hotel, the cost of the room is directly related to the cost it took to build the place,” Thuner said.

Budget accommodation is lacking in Switzerland, Thuner admitted, but added that providing low-cost hotels was a real problem because of the price of construction.

“Switzerland is not a low-cost destination and never will be,” said Véronique Kaene, spokesperson for Swiss Tourism.