CANBERRA (Reuters) — Capri, Geneva and New York top the list for the most expensive hotel rooms, according to a global survey that showed hotel rates rising for the first time in three years as the global economy picks up.

Hotel provider Hotels.com's bi-annual hotel price index, released, found that although average hotel room rates are at low levels seen six years ago, there are hints of a recovery.

"We're seeing travel bookings pick up around the world," Hotels.com spokesman Victor Owens said in a statement.

Overall, prices rose about two percent in the second quarter of 2010 from a year ago, the first increase since the end of 2007, as business travellers and tourists started packing their bags again and heading out.

The index, now in its seventh year and based on a sample of about 91,500 properties in 15,750 locations, found second-quarter room rates rose one percent in Europe and the Caribbean, three percent in the Americas and stabilised in Asia.

Prices on the Italian island of Capri rose seven percent, making it the most expensive destination for hotels and uprooting Monte Carlo from the top slot in 2009.

In Geneva, and Switzerland overall, average hotel room rates were up eight percent to $254, while New York City was found to be the most expensive city for rooms in the United States, with prices up 14 percent from a year ago. Rounding out the top ten were Dubrovnik in Croatia, Venice, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Bali, London and Moscow.

The survey showed some of the greatest price rises happened in cities tied to major events.

This included price hikes in Cannes, France, which hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, the setting for part of Julia Roberts' new movie 'Eat Pray Love'. Room rates in Bali surged 57 percent, the largest price rise for any destination.

The second biggest rise was recorded in Cape Town, host to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where room rates jumped 53 percent to average $180 a night.

Owens said a gradual return of business travel and an increase in domestic US travel fuelled the overall increases – but that the price rises were not universal.