Hotels.com, an online provider of lodging worldwide, has released its Hotel Price Index, noting a theme of recovery in the travel industry as global hotel rates rose 2 percent in 2010.

Despite the increase in year-over-year rates, consumers reportedly can still find below-market-rate room prices in many popular cities, as well as the new global up-and-coming destinations, the company reported.

Among the good news, Hotels.com's HPI found higher occupancy levels for major business centers like London, Paris, Singapore, and New York due to the return of business travel. Las Vegas also benefitted, as convention business returned to the desert.

International arrivals grew more than 5 percent in 2010, and occupancy in luxury properties in the U.S. is running between 10 and 15 percentage points higher than in the lower star categories.

"We are encouraged by this continued growth in business and consumer travel throughout the industry," says Victor Owens, vice president of marketing North America for Hotels.com.

Las Vegas held onto the crown as Americans' favorite domestic city to visit in 2010. Sin City is followed by New York, Orlando, Chicago, and San Francisco, while the city of Pittsburgh slowly moved up to be one of the top 50 cities Americans love to visit.

Internationally, Americans continued to flock to London, Paris, and Rome, but Asian cities, including Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Manila quickly became new favorites in 2010.

Travelers from overseas were still enchanted with New York, Las Vegas, and Orlando, making them the top three most-visited cities, but others have been charmed by the laid-back luxury of Honolulu.

This city moved up to become the seventh most-visited city in 2010, up three spots from 2009.

Who has the deepest pockets? Americans didn't skimp on accommodations when visiting overseas but were a bit more frugal when finding rooms close to home.

The average price paid per room overseas was $160, $46 more than what they would have paid for a hotel in the U.S.

The report looked at the best rates at four-star hotels. Internationally, travelers lounged in splendor for $100 a night when staying in Tallinn, Bangkok, and Budapest.

Top U.S. cities that saw significant year-over-year increases at five-star properties in 2010 were: Boston, 21 percent; Chicago, 20 percent; Miami, 10 percent; San Francisco, 22 percent; and Washington, 16 percent.

New Orleans has been recovering steadily since Hurricane Katrina. Rooms were up 12 percent in 2010 compared with 2009, indicating a healthy comeback for the hotel industry.

Worldwide, the highest average rate was in Bora Bora, the French Polynesian destination that averaged $605 a night. Primm, Nev., offered the cheapest rooms, at $34 a night.