New York was the most expensive U.S. city for business travelers in the last quarter of 2024, with the daily cost of accommodation, food, and car hire totaling *** U.S. dollars. In the second place was Boston, where business tourists spent around *** U.S. dollars each day on average.

In 2023, Americas Best Value Inn was ranked the best budget hotel brand in North America with a customer satisfaction index score of *** points. Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham ranked second with a score of ***. Other high-ranking brands on the list included Surestay Hotel by Best Western and Howard Johnson by Wyndham.

Highest-rated luxury hotel brands

The Ritz-Carlton hotel brand ranked ** points lower than the satisfaction score of North America’s highest-rated luxury hotel brand in 2023: Waldorf Astoria. During that year, Waldorf Astoria received a satisfaction score of ***. The average customer satisfaction score for luxury hotel brands was more than *** points higher than the average economy score.

Most expensive cities for business travel

Daily hotel costs can differ substantially, depending on the city one is visiting. In 2022, the most expensive cities for business travel in the United States were New York, San Francisco and Boston, respectively. Beyond the U.S., the most expensive cities for business travel worldwide included New York, Boston, and Lagos that same year.

Washington DC was the most expensive major city for office space, among those being considered for Amazon’s second headquarters, in the United States in 2017. Tenants paid, on average, *** U.S. dollars per square foot for office space in that city, compared with *** U.S. dollars and *** U.S. dollars per square foot in Boston and Austin respectively.   Why is Washington DC so expensive? The GDP of the Washington metro area has steadily risen since 2001, which indicates that the economy is growing. This is not surprising, because it is the capital of the United States and, consequently, its political epicenter. All three branches of government, nearly *** foreign embassies and several international organizations - such as the IMF, the World Bank and the National Geographic Society - are located there, which also means that it’s the logical place for lobbying firms and many financial services companies to operate from.

Further growth expected in Washington DC The future of the office real estate market in Washington DC looks promising, due to its political importance and strong economy. Office rents are forecast to grow by almost *** percent by 2021, which is impressive given how high they already are. However, vacancy rates are also set to rise in the area, which means that more available office units will be unoccupied.

In the second quarter of 2025, Portland and San Francisco were some of the most expensive cities in the United States for the construction of general hospitals. The cost of building a hospital in Portland ranged between ***** and ***** U.S. dollars. Boston and Los Angeles were the next cities in the ranking. Meanwhile, Las Vegas was one of the cheapest city in the list to build a general hospital.