Despite claims of a rapidly approaching recession (or ongoing one, depending on whom you talk to), there’s one place where CFOs won’t see any relief.

A company’s road-warriors might expect to see lowered hotel prices to help attract business in the slowing economy, but a presentation at the National Business Travel Association’s Financial Forum says that just ain’t so.

Industry analyst Mark Lomano noted that demand growth in hotels has slowed slightly, but average daily rates are still climbing by an average of 5.2% annually. Most hotels are hesistant to react to the market slowdown as they have in the past, so traveling employees will be hard-pressed to ferret out savings.

The two areas that drive up costs no matter where employees stay: the minibar and all those hotel “extras.” The $10 cashews and $8 bottles of water were ridiculously priced to begin with, but travelers will see increases in charges for amenities like baggage holding, Internet access, fax services and room taxes somewhere around the 10% range.

Will prices continue to rise everywhere? Not so, say analysys: Economy-priced hotels may soon be forced to lower their rates to stay in business. It’ll ease some of the strain on travel budgets, but only if employees use them exclusively. For mid-priced and upscale hotel chains, travelers can expect to see rate increases — just not at the steep levels seen in 2006 and most of 2007.

Want to keep travel budgets in line? Keep employees’ sights set on the lower-priced chains. They’ll be easing up on prices more than their upscale competition, and most provide the same Internet access and continental breakfasts as the bigger chains. Those savings add up after a few overnight stays, whether a company has one or a thousand people on the road.

Tags: hotel costs, NBTA