The most expensive cities for business travel

May 11, 2016June 28, 2022 pmacafee 783 Views 0 Comments

San Francisco is the priciest destination in America – and the third most expensive city in the world, according to the 32nd annual Corporate Travel Index, which calculates average travel spending in key categories. This slideshow reveals the ten most expensive here and abroad.

1. San Francisco, $547/day. Hotel: $370.78; car: $56.01; food: $120.55 Kirby Lee, Kirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsFullscreen1 of 20 Next Slide20 PhotosWorld’s most expensive citiesIf you’ll be traveling to San Francisco for your next business trip, you might want to tell your corporate accountants to brace themselves. For the third year in a row, San Francisco is the priciest destination in America – and the third most expensive city in the world, according to the 32nd annual Corporate Travel Index, ranking the most (and least) expensive cities for corporate travelers.The average per-diem for the California city was a whopping $547.34, which includes the cost of a hotel, rental car and food, an increase of 7% over last year’s already expensive total.

2. New York, $523/day. Hotel: $327.63; car: $77.35; food: $118.06

3. Boston, $503/day. Hotel: $344.18; car: $62.59; food: $95.92

4. Seattle $419/day. Hotel: $253.22; car: $49.40; food: $116.25

5. Washington, D.C., $411/day. Hotel: $245.81; car: $44.07; food: $121.21

6. Santa Barbara, Calif., $409/day. Hotel: $224.68; car: $52.87; food: $131.77

7. Honolulu, $404/day. Hotel: $237.97; car: $38.29; food: $127.67

8. Los Angeles, $403/day. Hotel: $245.46; car: $46.22; food: $111.11

9. San Jose, Calif., $398/day. Hotel: $246.78; car: $47.22; food: $104.28

10. Hartford, Conn., $387/day. Hotel: $218.02; car: $48.92; food: $120.1

.The national average for a hotel, transportation and three square meals was $318.80 per day, or about what it would cost you to spend a night in St. Louis ($318.71), the 26th most expensive city on the list. Across the United States, the average costs were up 3.9% in 2015, compared with the average in 2014, which added up to $306.91 per day. Hotel costs have increased 5.6% in the past year, up to a nightly average of $172.80. Although the average cost of food has only increased 1.9% across the country, the cost of three meals in Santa Barbara, California – the most expensive city for business travelers to eat in – has increased by an appetite-killing 27%, to a daily average of $131.77.

The most expensive city in the world for business travel is Caracas, Venezuela, $1,702/day. Hotel: $510.48; car: $64.88; food: $1,127.07

On the opposite side of the rankings, the five least costly cities were less than half of the price of a night in San Francisco. The 100th ranked city on the list was Norfolk, Va. ($248.15), preceded by Jackson, Miss. ($250.76), Bakersfield, Calif. ($251.28), Shreveport, La. ($251.31) and Tucson, Ariz. ($252.79).Business Travel News also calculated the average per diem cost for cities outside the United States and its priciest destination for 2015 might be a surprise. Caracas, Venezuela, took the top spot with an average per diem of $1,702.44, the result of an inflationary spiral that makes San Francisco – and the rest of the world – look like bargains by comparison. See the slideshow above for complete rankings.