The hotel price war that broke out over the summer is not only extending until the rest of the year but looks like being around well into 2010, according to operators and leisure industry consultants.

When Whitbread’s Premier Inn budget hotel brand launched its “summer sizzling break” campaign at the beginning of June, in response to aggressive discounting earlier in the year from three and four-star operators, it made 250,000 rooms available at £29 ($46) a night.