New York City Is Most Costly

With an average daily cost of $308.36 for a hotel room, three meals and a rental car, New York City is America’s most expensive corporation travel destination, according to the “89 Corporate Travel Index,” an exclusive study on the cost of business travel commissioned by Corporate Travel magazine.

The next six most expensive cities are: Washington ($237.21 a day); Boston ($236.96); Chicago ($230.93); Newark, N.J. ($217.18); Philadelphia ($213.85), and Stamford, Conn. ($209.53).

Sun Belt cities, traditionally known for their lower travel costs, made inroads into that exclusive tier--Dallas ($204.45); Los Angeles ($191.21); New Orleans ($190.15); Austin, Tex. ($189.82), and Santa Barbara ($176.47). The national average is $163.91.

The least costly cities are: Rochester, Minn. ($120.89); Corpus Christi, Tex. ($120.67); El Paso $120.48); Greenville, S.C. ($119.72), and Roanoke, Va. ($104.05).

The “Corporate Travel Index” also showed how per-diem costs break down. Of the $163.91 average total, $64.68 went to a downtown hotel room (39.5%), $55.16 went to three meals (33.6%), including tax and tip, and $44.07 went to one day’s car rental (26.9%).

A key finding indicated that meals replaced car rental as the second-largest cost component of the travel dollar. The average $55.16 tab for three meals was up 17.8% from 1987.