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Images: World's most expensive and cheapest hotels

If you're looking to travel to the glitzy, tony city of Monte Carlo, brace yourself and your pocketbook as average hotel prices in 2012 were highest in the Monegasque capital and lowest in Cambodia's Phnom Penh, according to online accommodation site Hotels.com.

In the ninth edition of the site's annual Hotel Price Index, which reviewed global hotel prices during 2012, the capital of Monaco topped the list of destinations with the highest average hotel prices last year, experiencing a six percent price hike from £189 (€220) in 2011 to £200 (€230) in 2012.

Looking for a cheap vacation? At the other end of the spectrum, the average hotel price for a room in Phnom Penh, Cambodia clocked in at £40 (€46).

Meanwhile, globally, guests around the world paid three percent more for their hotel rooms compared to 2011, the report points out.

In what could be construed as a harbinger for areas of growth, the index also charts the biggest percentage price rises in 2012 and found that hotel prices in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt skyrocketed 34 percent over 2011, from £69 (€80) to £92 (€107).

Rounding out the cities that experienced the biggest percentage price hikes between 2011and 2012 are Perth, Australia; San Francisco, California; Orlando, Florida; and Siem Reap in Cambodia.

The report looked at the prices of more than 155,000 properties around the world.

The 10 destinations where average hotel prices were steepest during 2012:

1. Monte Carlo, Monaco - £200
2. Muscat (capital of Oman) - £188
3. New York - £179
4. Rio de Janeiro - £177
5. Moscow - £160
6. Geneva - £159
7. Key West - £154
8. Boston - £151
9. Cannes - £149
10. Perth - £142

The 10 destinations with the lowest average hotel prices during 2012

1.Phnom Penh, Cambodia - £40
2.Pattaya, Thailand, Cambodia - £48
3.Hanoi, Vietnam - £49
4.Siem Reap, Cambodia - £51
5.Chiang Mai, Thailand - £53
6.Vilnius, Lithuania - £53
7.Riga, Latvia - £54
8.Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - £59
9.Krakow, Poland - £61
10. Bangkok, Thailand - £61