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Geneva tops 'club sandwich index' again

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Geneva tops 'club sandwich index' again
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

For the second year in a row Geneva ranked as the most expensive city in the world to buy a club sandwich in a list designed to show how affordable (or not) destinations around the world are for travellers.

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The 2014 Club Sandwich Index, based on research by booking website Hotels.com, ranks the Swiss city as the most costly place to order a chicken, bacon, egg, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwich, with an average price of £19.46 (just over 29 francs or almost $33).

That’s almost twice as expensive as in New York city (ranked 13th) and ahead of Paris ($17.53), which ranked second again.

Helsinki (£14.54), zoomed into third place from 11th in 2013, dislodging Oslo (now fifth at £14.21) and just ahead of Stockholm (£14.36).

The Geneva average price was slightly lower than in the previous year (£19.96), reflecting a global trend with club sandwiches generally dropping in price around the world among the cities surveyed, Hotels.com said.

The index is calculated from real prices paid by guests in either the capital or a major city of the 28 countries involved in the survey.

Thirty three- to five-star hotels were canvassed in each city.

Club sandwiches are regarded as a staple food in America but are sometimes hard to find in Switzerland, although hotels catering to international visitors will often put the item on their restaurant menus.

Hotels.com said the prices for the sandwich in Geneva ranged from £25.82 in one (unnamed) five-star hotel to £9.17 in a three-star establishment.

As a barometer of prices for tourists, the index pours more cold water on the Swiss hospitality industry, suffering from a strong currency and already struggling with a reputation for being overpriced.

New Delhi, where a club can be ordered for an average of £5.24, remained the most affordable place to enjoy the toasted sandwich, down from £5.97 a year earlier.

The index offers travellers a “simple price comparison to show how far their money will stretch in each country,” Alison Couper, of Hotels.com, said in a news release.

“The majority of countries continued to display a decline in the price of a Club Sandwich, which is great news for travellers who will get more for their money abroad,” Couper said. 

 

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