Image: Brits have benefited from lower room rates

UK travellers benefited from "dramatic price falls" in high-end hotel room rates across the world during 2011, according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).

Among some of the sharpest decreases for luxury stay accommodation compared with the previous year was a 26 per cent drop in Cape Town, South Africa, following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Asian destinations also offered attractive discounts to UK travellers, with five-star room rates in Singapore down 12 per cent on 2010 – a year in which there was high demand for the World Expo.

Hotels.com chief marketing officer Nigel Pocklington said: "Travellers are becoming increasingly savvy in their choices and many are using the internet to bag some great five and four-star bargains while money is tight."

Details: www.hotels.com

Image: Maksym Gorpenyuk/shutterstock.com