Geneva tops the list as priciest city; Toronto offers great value for travellers
Toronto may be the most expensive Canadian city for hotel dining, but compared to New York it’s a bargain (CNW Group/Hotels.com)
The Hotels.com Club Sandwich Index (CSI) continues to uncover the dining costs of hotels worldwide with its annual price barometer, the Club Sandwich Index. This year, the elevated report by Hotels.com – the CSI 2.0 – added three more hotel dining items to make the Index a more comprehensive indicator for travellers to understand the costs associated with a full day of dining in hotels worldwide.
The improved CSI report incorporates the prices of four popular dining options available to hotel guests throughout the day:
- A club sandwich for dinner
- A burger meal, consisting of a burger, fries and soda for lunch
- A cup of coffee
- A glass of house red wine for post-dinner drinks
The average prices are calculated from real prices (including taxes and fees) paid by guests for all four items in 30 hotels across 5-, 4- and 3-star categories in the capital or an important tourist city of the 28 countries surveyed.
Bogota offers best value while Geneva’s prices top the list
Based on findings from the CSI 2.0, Geneva, Switzerland, is not only the most expensive city for a club sandwich, but also for enjoying a full-day hotel dining experience (CAD$107.64). On the other end of the spectrum, Bogota, Columbia is home to the least expensive dining options with an average price of CAD$37.33.
While hungry travellers can get the most bang for their buck in Bogota, other South American cities like Rio de Janeiro (CAD$42.44) and Buenos Aires (CAD$50.00) gave the Colombian capital a run for its money with their affordable dining costs.
A supplementary poll within Canada, found Toronto reigned as the most expensive Canadian city for dining, followed closely by Vancouver ($50.95) and Montreal ($50.07). Calgary came in a few dollars less at $46.87 and Halifax offered the best value at $42.98.
| Average price per Items, including taxes and fees (in CDN) | ||||||
| Ranking | CITY | A burger meal |
A cup of coffee |
A glass of house red wine |
A club sandwich |
Total cost (in CDN) |
| 1 | Switzerland – Geneva | $46.92 | $7.68 | $15.06 | $37.97 | $107.63 |
| 2 | France – Paris | $36.78 | $7.19 | $15.90 | $30.28 | $90.15 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | $37.95 | $9.17 | $15.27 | $26.18 | $88.57 |
| 4 | Norway – Oslo | $38.71 | $5.95 | $15.29 | $24.98 | $84.93 |
| 5 | UK – London | $31.95 | $7.57 | $14.31 | $27.41 | $81.24 |
| 6 | South Korea – Seoul | $27.17 | $12.07 | $16.89 | $24.95 | $81.08 |
| 7 | Sweden – Stockholm | $29.17 | $4.97 | $14.11 | $28.35 | $76.60 |
| 8 | Japan – Tokyo | $27.98 | $10.55 | $13.69 | $23.24 | $75.46 |
| 9 | Singapore | $29.16 | $7.52 | $17.34 | $21.13 | $75.15 |
| 10 | USA – New York | $30.12 | $6.68 | $15.28 | $21.96 | $74.04 |
| 11 | China – Beijing | $29.40 | $9.53 | $15.46 | $19.23 | $73.62 |
| 12 | Finland – Helsinki | $25.21 | $5.06 | $10.19 | $24.88 | $65.34 |
| 13 | Denmark – Copenhagen | $25.20 | $6.11 | $12.75 | $21.27 | $65.33 |
| 14 | Australia – Sydney | $28.77 | $4.87 | $9.35 | $20.32 | $63.31 |
| 15 | Italy – Rome | $27.42 | $4.18 | $11.11 | $18.04 | $60.75 |
| 16 | Netherlands – Amsterdam | $27.27 | $4.82 | $7.37 | $18.87 | $58.33 |
| 17 | Taiwan – Taipei | $23.09 | $8.49 | $11.19 | $14.49 | $57.26 |
| 18 | Ireland – Dublin | $23.97 | $4.07 | $9.00 | $17.09 | $54.13 |
| 19 | Russia – Moscow | $19.06 | $5.16 | $12.19 | $17.04 | $53.45 |
| 20 | India – New Delhi | $18.40 | $4.80 | $15.65 | $13.97 | $52.82 |
| 21 | Germany – Berlin | $20.57 | $4.53 | $8.21 | $18.66 | $51.97 |
| 22 | Canada – Toronto | $18.17 | $4.38 | $10.85 | $18.19 | $51.59 |
| 23 | Argentina – Buenos Aires | $21.79 | $4.38 | $8.58 | $15.26 | $50.01 |
| 24 | Thailand – Bangkok | $17.06 | $5.45 | $13.03 | $13.53 | $49.07 |
| 25 | Spain – Madrid | $22.46 | $4.13 | $5.62 | $15.87 | $48.08 |
| 26 | Brazil – Rio de Janeiro | $16.46 | $2.54 | $10.75 | $12.69 | $42.44 |
| 27 | Mexico – Mexico City | $16.56 | $3.07 | $8.13 | $12.13 | $39.89 |
| 28 | Colombia – Bogota | $14.60 | $1.95 | $7.77 | $13.02 | $37.34 |
Additional CSI 2.0 highlights:
- Geneva (CAD$37.97) and Paris (CAD$30.28) retained their positions in first and second place respectively as destinations where travellers paid the most for a club sandwich, despite experiencing a fall in their average prices from 2014 to 2015.
- Within North America, Toronto offered the best value for foodie travellers compared to New York City. Savings of more than $20 dollars ($74.02 vs. $51.58) for the full menu could be found and club sandwiches were an average of $3 less.
- Rome decreased by 32%, dropping nine places from 2014, with an average price of CAD$18.04
- India increased by 28 per cent, jumping up four places from 2014, but remained one of the most affordable places to enjoy a club sandwich.
- Mexico City remained consistent with the price only increasing by 0.08 per cent to $12.13, the cheapest on average globally and pushing out last year’s champion, India’s New Delhi (CAD$13.97).
