I know you come to True Faith HR for hard hitting HR analysis...and what could be more hard hitting than an analysis of SHRM Hotel costs.  Last June, I examined the cost of hotels at the 2010 SHRM Annual Conference, and found some significant differences.  Do those differences remain in 2011?

Once again, I looked at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 11 years to see what it was cost a person to book a single room on a per night average. Clearly, prices in 2001 will be different than in 2011, so I used an inflation calculator to adjust costs to 2011 dollars. So, how does Las Vegas compare to years past?

Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night)
Using a typical Sunday-Wednesday night as a baseline:
San Francisco (2001): $251.47 (standard deviation = $55.44)
Chicago (2008): $247.23 (sd=$28.46)
San Diego (2010): $243.59 (sd=$41.93)
Washington DC (2006): $225.81 (sd=38.80)
Philadelphia (2002): $214.47 (sd=57.34)
San Diego (2005): $201.03 (sd=$49.02)
Las Vegas (2007): $162.58 (sd=$31.34)
Las Vegas (2011): $126.25 (sd=$17.51)

As expected, Las Vegas is statistically significantly cheaper than every other in the sample.  Its even statistically cheaper than 4 years ago.

Never has there been a better time than to attend the SHRM conference than today with hotel prices at their lowest prices by far.   Even adjusting for inflation, it is $36 cheaper to attend today than 4 years ago.    Once again, you'll be able to nab a 5-star hotel such as the Bellagio ($199 in 2007; $149 in 2011), Venetian ($189 in 2007; $139 in 2011) or Wynn ($215 in 2007, $139 in 2011) for a price of a hotel in the bottom quartile in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, or San Diego).  

But...you better start saving your pennies for 2013, as the conference will be in Chicago, and you'll likely be paying twice as much for hotel rooms as you are today.

See you in Vegas!