Travel inflation tips

Visitors to the U.S. aren’t spending as much as they used to on lodging, food, local transportation, and entertainment.

New York City’s hotel rooms are hitting record prices. The main reason? A supply crunch. The city has essentially banned short-term rentals while also converting thousands of hotel rooms into lodging for migrants. A New York Times article this weekend highlighted the issue—here’s a closer look at the numbers.

Rising hotel room rates in the U.S. have stopped contributing to broader inflation. Hotel prices declined in December by 0.5% year-over-year.

Summer travel season is in full swing and we can already hear the complaints: “It’s outrageous what they’re charging for a hotel room these days!” The narrative goes that greedy hoteliers are taking advantage of pent-up vacation demand to gouge desperate travelers. But this is a myth and far from the reality of the hotel business today.

Travelers who made plans to hit the road this summer will likely notice the price of travel has gotten more expensive — in some cases, so expensive that many have decided to make changes to their planned trips. So why have hotel rates and airfaires increased from 2019 levels?