Have you stayed at a hotel recently? There is a good chance you experienced sticker shock when you checked out of your room.
U.S. hotel rates in May averaged $157.45 a night, up 17% from 2019. By contrast, rates dropped to $73.25 in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not consistently rise above $100 again until March 2021, according to hotel analytics firm STR.
But now hotel room rates in the United States and Europe are rising and may get even more expensive as supply has failed to keep up with demand, industry executives said.
U.S. hotel room supply is barely growing as tighter lending standards from regional banks make it harder for developers to secure funding, even as travel demand has grown after the pandemic. This helps to sustain higher prices executives say should have been reached years ago.
The number of U.S. hotel rooms increased about 3% in April 2023 from 2019. Some 153,000 hotel rooms were under construction in April, down from a peak of 220,000 in the same month in 2020, STR says.
Booking travel plans is a bloodsport for my husband. When it comes to hotels, he loves to price shop on travel aggregator sites and then see if he can get a better deal on Hotwire. You can usually figure out what the hotel is from the photos and descriptions.
And, for our family holiday trip later this year, we booked directly with the resort (rather than a travel site) for the lowest rate.
Here are some other tips to save money on hotel rooms any where in the world, anytime of the year.
