Ask the Travel Shrink: What the F Has Happened to Hotel Prices?!
The Tuscan landscape that launched a billion likes. Photo by Jarek Pawlak / courtesy of La Bandita Townhouse.
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Dear Travel Shrink: I like to think of myself as an experienced and savvy traveler. But while I was recently planning a trip to Europe, I noticed something weird and a little upsetting: I cannot find a good boutique hotel for less than $500 a night. What the fuck has happened to hotel prices?
Oh my friend, let me break it to you as gently as I can.
It’s not you.
According to Misty Belles, Vice President of Global PR for Virtuoso, the network of luxury travel agents, the average daily rate for global hotels will be 76 percent higher in July 2024 than it was in July 2019.
Will your experience at the hotel be 76 percent better? That’s harder to answer.
As for what the F has happened to make costs soar, the short answer is: a lot.
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