Business travellers and the hotel industry have embarked on a battle royal over prices as hoteliers fight tooth and nail to stop the economic downturn from eating into their profits and corporations drive a hard bargain over room rates.

According to some of the bigger hotel groups, business travellers hoping to see bargains being thrown their way from hard-pressed hoteliers during these lean times may be getting a bit ahead of themselves. But the mood among corporate travel buyers is uncompromising and hotel groups are reluctantly admitting that they are in the early stages of a prolonged buyers’ market.