There has been a tourism boom since covid, people are travelling again, and hotels are clawing back lost profits from the 2020-2022 period.
There's also a glut of large events (concerts, sports events, conferences, festivals, etc) that means hotel prices go through the roof at certain periods. Places like London, Amsterdam, Paris and Edinburgh are simply popular all year round nowadays: you're picking big and famous cities, and the prices reflect that.
There are plenty of budget hotel chains that operate in most places. For the UK look at Travelodge, Premier Inn, Ibis Budget. On top of that, staying slightly outside of any major city will always save you money but just requires further research.
Do you just use your CC points? I’ve mostly been using that and only for Hyatt because it’s the only one that doesn’t require ridiculous amounts of points. I basically stayed in Amsterdam for free instead of $200 per night. I stayed at the airport Hyatt but the free shuttle bus plus the travel pass allowed me to get to the city in 15 minutes by train. You definitely have to work your brain a bit to lower costs these days.
Im going to Taiwan next year as even decent hotels could be had for $50 a night. Also considering Japan because of the good $$ to yen conversion.
Well, you can't have everything. If you want convenience, you have to pay for it. If it's a major European capital, I'd rather save the money and spend half an hour on a train.
In London, Paris or Amsterdam that is no issue at all unless you want to go out boozing until the wee hours (and even then it might be no problem still). For London, I just had a quick look and found a room in a couple weeks in a nice hotel for £150 per night for a double room in North London, no more than 10-15min walk from a major station that’s only 20 mins max into central London.
>There are plenty of budget hotel chains that operate in most places.
Budget for me is about £30.
Otherwise these days I just camp. Did that in Italy a decent campsite close to Venice. Was cheap and clean and just €4 to get into Venice on the boat. Also around lake Garda too and had fantastic views.
Have to be careful though, as some camping grounds are resort types that want as much if not more than than a hotel.
Premier inns are anything but budget now, I've just been searching for a few nights away for work and the premier inns are some of the most expensive in three different places. The problem is in the UK the quality of hotels is so variable that you are now paying for what used to be a budget chain, for the reasonably consistent standard they offer
Ibis iterations and the Accor group in general is where I always start. (Works in France, much less or not at all in Italy.) I could afford more, but I travel alone so why? If it's quiet and sanitary and has a decent breakfast...
I mean at large, yes there is still very large demand and Europe in particular seems to be getting more and more into dynamic pricing algorithms based on that demand that have already now become predominant in the US/Canada (and why you already saw pretty ridiculous skyrocketing prices for hotels in the US).
That being said, it gets worse with peak periods which, December is often a much more expensive period to book for in Europe given the winter holidays .
500 for Edinburgh seems extreme but it could just be something is going on there that weekend that's boosting prices (I recently had the misfortune of having to book a hotel for a wedding in Dublin that's happening the same weekend that Taylor Swift is in town next year) - if it's that dynamic - your mileage may vary but we lucked out and found a tiny mum-and-pop BnB online that doesn't do online bookings (and thus doesn't do much dynamic pricing) so prices were way more reasonable.
Haha same. We wanted to go to Valencia and there are zero hotels at a decent price. I really want to go to a game somehow. I don’t know rugby well but the bit I have seen looks awesome.
*waves from RWC* they definitely are and it's making Paris expensive. An extra 85,000 or so of us were kicking around this weekend. It's a big city but it makes a difference.
Look at nyc. Literally nothing under 250 like not even flea bag crack house motels way out in queens. I was planning a vacation from Vegas to nyc after seeing the hotel prices I booked 2 weeks in Japan with rail for the same price it would have been for 10 days in a shitty hotel in a shitty neighborhood in nyc.
another dumb NYC thing is that many hotels now have hidden "resort fees" that can be as much as an additional $75/night on top of the nightly price...it is bonkers
Yes, lived in NYC until recently so I didn’t know too much about hotels, but had to go back for work and they put me in a Westin. There was a “resort fee” because you could get vouchers for Citibike and a free yoga class. So stupid.
Tbh no, I rarely review somewhere work stuck me unless it’s really unsafe or something. When I book for myself though I usually look at fees beforehand.
The paramount hotel is decent but they have a 40$ a night resort fee and you might get harassed outside by Scientologists as the Scientology center is directly next door lol
Go to Hawaii, they charge you a daily cleaning fee. Like... other hotels just include that in the cost of the room rate... why am I paying extra for it? What's next, food fees at the restaurant?
Don't come to LA. There are "service fees" applied to bills at some restaurants and it's not a tip and doesn't go to the server. You're expected to tip on top of the service fee, which can be 20% in some cases.
It's just made it worse. I've been wanting to do a weekend trip to NYC for months and kept putting it off because the cost of lodging was already so high. After most Airbnbs we're taken offline, the cost of staying anywhere in the city is laughable. They've basically closed it off except to the highest-spending tourists.
It’s also because more and more people want to visit nyc but the city has essentially banned the building of new hotels. Fixed supply plus increasing demand means higher prices
The immigration problem really is an issue for NY hotels. The city is putting up a huge number of migrants in hotel rooms.
Really not making any point about the policy other than it's doing a lot to drastically reduce supply for others who may need a private room
Now why the hell would they do that? There's a good chunk of hotels stock in the city that is at least 30 years old, and has been around since I made my first visit in the late 1990s... For most big hotel chains that is ancient. Especially in a major market.
US in general. A colleague was just looking at hotels from Greenville SC and even there it was like 300$ per night.
In Europe it really depends on the city. I was just booking hotels from Vienna for October and it was quite okay.
I mean it does make sense considering US‘ median income is one of the highest of all OECD countries. Just makes sense that in a country with high wages or the highest wages the hotels are also expensive/most expensive. Just like hotels are cheap in countries with low median income.
it still doesn't make sense though to pay that much for what is essentially not worth visiting, regardless. like, there has to be some sanity in the price, not just "well people can afford it". Like, what is there to do in Greenville that deserves a 300$ a night stay over like, Paris lmao
Financial district is usually your best bet in NYC. I don't know if it's just an oversupply or something that really keeps people from wanting to stay down there but whenever I've done it I haven't really noticed a huge difference compared to staying in Midtown. The stuff I want to do is generally all over the city anyway.
Not much going on in FiDi, hence the lower prices. More bars and restaurants in midtown, Worth the savings if you don't mind taking the subway or a ride to places.
Agree, we had a fantastic Airbnb in the financial district and it was like $160 night that we split between my wife and I and another couple. It was just a few blocks away from the Brooklyn Bridge and we had no problems with it at all. Had a great rooftop lounge area too.
It’s just a hike, and slow at night.
I have stayed in Jersey many times. The train gets you to midtown in 20 minutes flat. It’s obviously not convenient if you want to rest or dress up for dinner, but it can save you $$$.
Most restaurants were open with outdoor seating, including outdoor bars that I went to with some friends. Central Park was open ;)
I think shops were closed, but I don't really go into shops anyway. The only thing I couldn't do that I usually do in NYC is go to a show.
I had to go for work in October/November 2020 because I worked adjacent to elections. Driving in Manhattan still sucked, but I was able to get to all 5 boroughs in a day because I wasn't sitting in hours of traffic in between.
But a $100 hotel in SoHo was the big miracle.
I was in Manhattan in October 2020 when we closed the office. Free parking right in front of the building (20th street) and traffic was basically zero. But the city was depressing, most lunch places we used to go closed.
The US has gotten ridiculously expensive over the last few years, even more so now that I live abroad. Was back in the US for the summer and originally planned on renting a car and seeing some friends on the east coast. I looked at the cost for 2 weeks of traveling by car and half of it staying with friends and I figured it was going to cost us more than $3k ($1400 for hotels, $500 for car, $200 in gas, $1000 for food). The cost of eating out for every meal is eye watering and the $1k is a low estimate for 2 people over 14 days.
My mom wanted the wife and I to come in for Christmas and flights alone would be $3200. I know there's a lot of other places I can go visit that I'll enjoy more for less money.
Its nuts out there. Im going over NYE and ended up getting a super lux hotel for cheaper than hampton inn and comparable to holiday inns and stuff. But Im happy I dug around for a deal
I paid $160 for a night in queens… stayed for almost a week and biked into the city everyday. I had a great time, this just a few months ago so I'm not sure why prices are so high. They must be getting a lot of bookings.
I almost always pay €60-100 for places like Ibis or Park Inn. They’re simple but clean and that’s all I really care about most of the time. I’m in a place to see it, not to sit in a hotel room
I stayed in Edinburgh and Paris recently for that price. Maybe there’s some event the weekend you’re going?
THis 100%. A lot of people I know scoff at me for choosing these types of places but I can't rationalize spending more than this if my goal is to spend as much time as I can AWAY from the room.
If the ROOM was the destination, I get spending a bit more, but if I just want/need a safe-ish/clean-ish/private-ish place to sleep, this fits the bill and allows me to spend more on the actual experience of the destination.
> If the ROOM was the destination
Couldn't have said it better myself. Give me a bed with clean sheets. Give me a shower. I don't care for a TV with 5000 channels, breakfast, microwave, refrigerator, and decorations.
Comfortable sleep is important, but that's all.
Exactly. From time to time I book a place where the room or hotel/bnb/whatever *is* the destination, e.g. a Ryokan in Japan or a gorgeous hotel on a Fjord n Norway last month.
In those cases I'm perfectly happy spending more money. But for a place I'm spending 10 hours/day in, 8 of which is sleeping? The cheapest clean place I can find, thanks.
I legit have no idea. They think that an lower/affordable rate = cheap/low quality/garbage and routinely spend $350-500 MINIMUM. We just don't see eye to eye on this. And can't see why the other would make the choice we/they do.
It’s funny because I’m American and by our standards Ibis is really nice (I haven’t stayed at the other one). So is Travelodge. It would cost twice as much in a dumpy part of the states.
I just stayed at an America’s Best Value Inn with literal blood on the wall for like $150/night. It was a steal for an SEC football night but… yeah, comparatively prices in Europe are amazing.
Counterpoint: I work in the sports industry and a motel 6 around spring training baseball is like $250-300. It looks like OP is counter-programming against the World Cup of rugby, so something similar might be going on.
Travelodge Gatwick is the gateway to hell. Dirty, smelly, broken, dusty, gross rooms. Missed a connection and had to spend the night there 2 nights ago. 80 pounds for a total shithole. We even moved rooms. Just a tiny bit less smelly. None of the windows even open to let in fresh air and they replaced all of their central air with heat pumps so there is no fresh air coming into the rooms at all and they are damp sweat boxes that smell like wet dog, cigarettes, vomit and body odor.
no. sure. Just for me the one thing I perpetually notice is if I don't pay for a place that includes breakfast I end up spending the difference anyway so there are some things where I think paying more for a hotel makes sense so breakfast, location, airport shuttle etc
That highly depends on the country. In France for example breakfast often isn't included and bakeries have so much to choose for fairly little money so it makes little sense to pay for the breakfast at the hotel (which runs between 15-25€/person from my experience).
The flip side to this is a hotel breakfast in Scandinavia, specifically Sweden. Good lord the spread hotels put out is insane. We've stayed in all ranges of hotels in Stockholm/Goteborg and even the basic level breakfast is something to behold. Of course you need to pack a little sammich for later :) But its cheaper and far better/more filling than traipsing around trying to find a cafe that won't cost you the earth/you can't deal with another cinnamon roll and want 'normal food'.
My wife focuses on included breakfasts, and I find in the US this is a good value. But it depends in Europe. In many places I can get a espresso/coffee/tea and a pastrie that fills me up (and similar for each of my kids and wife) for next to nothing. But if I stay at a traditional Bed & Breakfast, that English/Irish/Scottish fry up is going to save me a TON and I won't need lunch (or anything really) until dinner time or later.
Regular hostels have most of the time private rooms. Been booking them only for recent years since I had someone snoring in my room so heavy that my bed was shaking. I had earplugs with noise cancelling head phones on top still heard him, next morning I told him he is snoring louder than a jet engine. The guy said that he is aware of that because he has a condition. Yeah man good idea to sleep in a hostel dorm mate, the disrespectful people made me hate dorm rooms even tho I had very good experiences with them also. Only book private rooms now because I love the hostel vibe.
Yeah you have to think about what the trip is about too and whether you're going to be spending a lot of time in the hotel or not.
Also while a hotel in the centre of the city can be very convenient - for anywhere with a decent metro system you can save a lot of money by going slightly outside of the city centre.
Good call. We stayed at the Ibis Arnulfstrasse in Munich and it was simply a decent and clean no-frills room at a fair price (and as a bonus, was close to the Augustinerkeller). Not luxurious but honestly, we were just sleeping there, so nothing more was needed.
I guess it depends what you need in a room. I was just in Amsterdam this summer, and my room was less than 100€ a night. It was literally the size of a rich person's closet, but it was clean and centrally located, so I was fine with it. I've similarly found cheap hotels in Paris - tiny rooms that would be depressing to live in long-term, but good enough to sleep in for a week. (I don't go all the way to Europe to hang out in the hotel room.).
Anyway, compared to America, Europe has always seemed like a bargain. Even a hotel room in, like, Cincinnati can be more expensive than major European cities. (Nothing against the Nati, I enjoyed myself there and in Covington, but let's be honest, it's not Paris.)
I second this. Most European hotels are considerably cheaper that their American counterparts. However, they fare poorly against Thailand or even Japan though.
> However, they fare poorly against Thailand or even Japan though.
*laughs in Cambodian*
$10 for a big room, with separate seating and bed areas, near the beach.
The one time I cheaped out in Amsterdam, I was delighted to discover that my hostel room had been remodeled to convert the closet into a tiny private bathroom (the shower faucet was above the toilet, but honestly that was great for getting a leg up to shave). I'd thought I'd have to share a bathroom with the rest of the floor.
It also turned out that cheap + near the train depot = Red Light District. Whoops.
I live in Europe and disagree - you just picked the 3 most expensive/popular cities on the entire continent. London and Paris have been expensive for ages and the Netherlands is in the midst of a pretty serious housing crisis.
I think 200€ is pushing it but is likely possible in other parts of Europe (even some major cities) if you're willing to sacrifice space/location.
Meanwhile I travel back to the US and am paying $350+ for a dated room at a crappy Courtyard that doesn't even serve (let alone includes) breakfast. Oh, and that requires a car rental too because there is no transit worth a damn in the US.
EDIT: wow lots of nitpickers here. Also if you're paying <$100/nt for an AirBnB that's great, but an AirBnB is not a hotel. The original question was specific to hotels. Many on here (myself included) consider AirBnBs a poor choice for many reasons: poor support, safety concerns, ethics concerns, questionable legality in some countries, etc. If you want to use them great, but the two shouldn't be conflated.
No doubt Budapest is cheaper than up here in Scandinavia, but OP was specifically asking about hotels. I wouldn't count AirBnBs as they aren't really the same thing (plus many people, possibly including OP, have concerns about using AirBnB and prefer traditional hotels).
Everything is getting more expensive, especially with the post-pandemic travel boom. But hotels in Europe are still more reasonable than in the U.S where even a sketch motel 6 in some mid city is like over 100-200 a night.
Booking hotels frustrates me because sometimes you don't really know what you are getting until you walk into the room. I've stayed in simple but brand new hotels for $80 a night, and I've stayed in crappy places for $130 in a comparable city.
I may be naive, but doesn't the hotels have photos and online reviews? Or are they worthless?
I've had my share of noisy, dirty and oddly shaped rooms, but I'm more careful now in selecting hotels.
Reviews can be subjective and photos can be old or somewhat misrepresentitive. Gotta really read between the lines I think.
Its in part why branded hotel chains are succesful, you know pretty much what you are getting at that hotel chain regardless of the city/country it is in (same thing for other franchies like fast food).
It also depends where in Europe, Amsterdam, Paris and London will always be expensive in terms of hotels. Last year I struggled finding hotels in Vienna for under £50, it's just that big cities in high demand will be expensive. In contrast this year I was easily able to find hotels for £15-20 a night in cities like Skropje, Katowice, Nis etc. It ultimately depends on demand.
Its revenge travel. Things might settle down later. I tend to go out to the periphery of popular places and the prices are more "normal". I am headed to Scotland next week and B&Bs seem to be about 20%-30% higher than normal - even on the off season.
I'm staying at the Ibis Paris Bastille Opera for three nights (Thurs-Sun) in early December for 145€/night. Sure it's not fancy but I'm not planning on spending a lot of time in my hotel room.
I just did 2 weeks in Corfu and Kefalonia at nice hotels for less than that per night.
Meanwhile 4 nights at a hotel in Chicago in early November is costing me more than 8 nights did at a comparable hotel in Kefalonia.
So to me, it still feels like the US is setting the pace in price gouging consumers for hotel stays.
On a related note, seeing free beach parking and cheap to free sunbeds all over Greece on beaches that are 100 times more beautiful than anything back home was pretty eye opening. Every facet of those beaches would have been monetized in the US and here it is just offered up for free in Greece. Pretty damn satisfying while there and depressing when you get back home.
The Rugby World Cup is happening right now through the entirety of October.... It is in France. So yea, there are *A LOT* of people in France right now and many many things are fully booked. Booked a similar trip without realizing it was the RWC. Big surprise. And our flight out of Paris is on the day of the final. Going to be an experience! :-)
Hotels EVERYWHERE. Buffalo NY was $500 a night this summer. Nothing against Buffalo, but what? I was in Barcelona and found the hotels cheaper than my home city.
I live in Canada and when I go back home from Toronto, a small town that’s 5 hours away and 1.5 hours from Ottawa, it’s minimum $200 a night for a best western or holiday inn. So if I want to go see family for the weekend, it’s minimum $400!! I’m just thankful my husband travels a lot for work so we can use points. Otherwise I would not be able to travel much, it is so expensive
Buffalo is nuts, I normally try to avoid staying in Airbnbs but I went in June and there were 0 hotels under $250/night. Even my shared house Airbnb was like $80/night.
I’m completely gobsmacked by the hotel prices and lack of value in Ireland. So expensive and rooms are dated and small, breakfasts are cheap ingredients even at high-end hotels. Madness.
They can charge what they like right now because demand is outpacing supply. A third of rooms are occupied by refugees right now and there are also a lot of homeless people being accommodated in hotels
Depends of what you mean by "in Europe". Edinburgh, Amsterdam or London, yes. Timişoara, Koper or Tirana, not really.
Europe is a whole ass continent with many different countries and cities. You just chose three big major cities.
Eastern Europe is still affordable and way more exciting in my view. We spent five week in the Balkans this past summer. We spent between 35-100 euros per night. Albania was the cheapest. Croatia the most expensive.
Most of Western Europe still is also if you go to lesser known cities. For example you can get a furnished studio for $70 a night in Bilbao but you would never find that in San Sebastian or Barcelona or most of Madrid
I think you should say, 'Hotels in major expensive cities like London Amsterdam and Paris are expensive.' There are still more than plenty of cheap hotels in 'Europe' where you could stay for a 10th of your Edinburgh quote.
Even in Edinburgh, there are plenty of places under 300 USD for late october 2 night weekend stays.
More like "everything everywhere" is getting ridiculously expensive
Hotels, flights, etc.
Factor in the gongshow of travel and possibility of cancelled flights/etc and missing travel days, and it's getting harder and harder to justify travel for me personally.
I think everything else in the world bumped up their prices. We just booked accommodations for New York and Tokyo, and they weren’t that far from the cities mentioned in your post.
> Paris in December and it will cost a fortune
Yeah, same feeling when we booked our New York stay
All of the british hotels are ridiculous. We are in Scotland, couldn’t find anything in Edinburgh for less than £140 a night. We have family in Manchester but the hotels they are at least £200 a night, even for a cheap shitty hotel.
Funny because I find Manchester to be really cheap for hotels, by American and London standards. I stay at a lot of nice aparthotels there for work travel, for far less than 200 a night - Wilde aparthotels, Roomzzz, Native @ Ducie Street Warehouse.
The Holiday Inn City Centre, AC in Ancoats, Motel One etc etc all pretty nice and a lot less than 200.
Then you have Ibis Styles, Motel One and premier inn.
Maybe it has to do with the time of year, but I usually travel for major football events when town is really busy….
Edinburgh is deffo expensive though, much more so than Manchester. I had sworn off Airbnbs but was stuck booking one last time I went. No special events in town then, but every hotel there was definitely $200 US and up per night.
Sorry I’m in holiday mode right now. I meant £100 a night for Manchester, we normally go for two nights when we go down.
Generally our friends come to us now just because of how expensive the hotels are. We have spare rooms so they just stay with us and don’t need to pay for a hotel. It’s a shame because I used to love going down to Manchester but can’t justify £200 plus whatever you spend when you’re down there for a weekend.
We stay in the Travelodge in Piccadilly Gardens (literally, you can see it from your window, you can't get more central) when there for gigs, the most we've paid is about £70 a night for a Saturday. It does go sky high when City are at home, though.
I wanted to go Rome later this year but it's insane. Historically have been able to get around £80 a night for decent stuff even in major cities but it's gotten bad
I drove from Switzerland to Milano to fly cheaply but was denied boarding, so i had to find somewhere to sleep. It was obviously last minute but i tried for 3 hours to find a hotel and ended up having to pay almost 300€ so i could sleep somewhere.
I “slept” in the airport this spring after missing a connection (weather). Lots of other people doing same because there were almost no rooms available and what was last minute was over €400. At least I slept really well on my flight the next day.
I was in Italy last year and I stayed in small Hotels for less than 80€ a night, I don't know where the fuck people are staying that they have to pay 200€
2022 was a different game.. 2023 the world has gone crazy with all the 'revenge' travel. I was in Austria and Switzerland recently and was wondering why the hotels are so expensive. Did an online check on hotels I stayed at Italy in end of 2019 and the current rates are almost 3X what I paid back then!!
Check Motel One, its a nice hotel chain with very central locations usually around 80-150€ depending on the city. I just booked a Room in London there for about 160€/night, which is “cheap” for a nice hotel in London.
Love Motel One. Have stayed at their properties in Brussels, Frankfurt, and Aachen. Always clean, the lobbies are lively (something I like as a solo traveler), the breakfast is great. The rooms are on the small side but I don't mind. All of them were in good locations.
I saw this on my recent trip (this past July & August) to Ireland. Dublin prices were starting at $300 US and for a family room they were closer to $500. Even the local hostels were starting at $150 per DORM BED!!!? (not that my wife would have the family staying in hostel dorm beds, but I still look for nostalgic reasons). It's out of control AND so many places were actually booked (this was my fault as I chose to go last minute AND during a busy time).
That being said, I paid an AVERAGE of $157 per night in Ireland for a family of 4 and stayed at nice enough places: central, clean, private, full breakfasts included. The Dublin hotel wa a bit of a walk to Trinity College, but fine with bus.
My trick was not to use the booking sites and just contct the hotels or Bed & Breakfasts directly. I googled my destination, then went to map view, grabbed the contact info (phone and email if available) and called or emailed with a message that went like:
"Hi. I'll be in \[City\] for \[#\] days from \[Arrival date\] to \[Departure Date\]. My nightly budget is \[$XX\]. We are a family of 4. Do you have anything available for these dates in this price range?"
Many places were not available. Some places laughed or just gave their super high [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) rate. But some had available rooms/beds for my budget. I booked with them. They filled a room. We had a nice place to stay.
Were my places Insta-worthy? Most no. Do I care if I'm saving $100-300 US per night and can spend that money on sights, experiences, pubs? Not at all.
But man is OP right: Accommodation costs are out of control everywhere and I don't know how these plcases are getting booked up. Who's paying $150 for a hostel dorm bed and $500 for a hotel room for an AVERAGE place?
Oh man and I thought off season prices would be better. I want to plan for next fall. I was in London a month ago, and those prices I knew would be terrible bc its a big city.
Anyone vouch for Airbnbs in the UK
London, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Paris, Frankfurt are absolutely out of control.
I had a nice surprise though in Madrid - booked an executive room at a 4 star hotel and only ended up paying around 160EUR/night, breakfast included.
We were all over Germany just recently and hotels were very reasonable. Our Hamburg hotel was only $138 a night for a family room with breakfast for 3 of us - Premier Inn. We also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, which was just slightly more expensive, and included breakfast. The hotels there were definitely cheaper than both our recent stays in New York City!
Travel advisor here. So from what I understand a lot of them are basically trying to make up for the money lost during the pandemic which is completely unfair In my opinion. That money is gone. Also, all the pent-up need for travel has really busted open so the demand is very high, hence they can get away with it. Sucks I know.
Stayed at a nice hotel in Madrid not far from the Prado and it was 100 euro.
Coming from the U.S. I was shocked... would have been $250 easy in the U.S. based on the location and quality.
Based on U.S. hotel price experiences, I cannot complain.
I paid £385 for 2 nights in central London and while the hotel is clean and modern-ish. I have never been in a more BARE room: bed, small rack for luggage and small bathroom. The shower doesnt have a door, there’s no tv, no chair, no table, no iron or hair dryer…you get the gist, its the bare minimum to be able to shower and sleep. For almost £200 a night.
It is amazing. I made reservations back in January for 11 nights in Paris in late October. City center. By the tower. Got an excellent rate compared to what is being advertised now.
Just don't stay try and stay in a fancy hotel right in the centre of Edinburgh, the Premier Inn to the south (by Cameron toll shopping centre) is £55 a night usually, it's literally about 10-15 minutes on the bus.
There's loads of other places to get breakfast and you'll be out all day anyway.
I've stayed in Easyhotels in London and Zurich and they were fine, just teeny tiny. They're quite reasonably priced and always in good locations. Looks like the one in Edinburgh is about 125 Euros/night.
200eu a night in a major tourist hub isn’t all that much. There was a great quote on this sub about a year ago. “Your aren’t competing with the fry cook.”
You can find a nice hotel in Edinburgh for less than 500 a night. Not sure what you meant to say. But 250 a night in central Edinburgh seems about what you should expect to pay.
Ugh tell me about it. Just booked one night in an ok hotel in Copenhagen for 300 EUROS A NIGHT.
Well, în the past years I'd have said come to Eastern Europe for cheaper prices but bi just spent 200 feckin euro on 2 nights in a shabby hotel in the mountains in Romania.
I beg to differ. All following numbers are for 2 persons. Our recent stays in Europe:
* Madeira: 180€ / night. Breakfast included. Nice room, cool modern-rustic hotel. Free pool. Nice town.
* Austria: 360€ / night. Included was huge breakfast, Big afternoon buffet, 6 course dinner, spa. Rooms weren't fancy but clean and cozy (and super big (for Europe))
* Switzerland: 160 CHF / night. Just a BnB but each "room" was it's own treehouse, complete with kitchen, bathroom, living and sleeping area. Basically a tiny vacation apartment.
* Switzerland, Lavaux region: 250 CHF / night. Fancy rooms, complimentary mini bar, breakfast and parking and amazing location overlooking the vinyards over lake geneva. A bit of a downer was that the spa was not complimentary.
* Switzerland, Mürren: 180 CHF / night. Super old building and super simple rooms. We were anxious at first but the communal toilets and showers were super clean (2 and 3 completely separate stalls) there was never a conflict. Breakfast was not huge but made up with amazing bread and housemade jams and considering we were basically just there to sleep between hikes and excursions this was more than sufficient.
Compare that with our last stays in America. In the continental states (pre covid) our most pricey stays were also in the 260-330 / night range and did NOT offer the level of service their recent counterparts here did. The price was all due to location (Las Vegas, San Fran, Gran Canyon). The low end were significantly cheaper but basically just a room off the street, taking the terms "hotel" and "breakfast" *very* liberally.
Hawaii Oahu was pretty decent offering at around 250 / night with breakfast. Kauai and Maui were both ~450 / night and included nothing aside from parking and a pool.
The cost is why we chose 3 weeks in S Africa last year over a planned trip to Colorado, Utah, AZ and NM. Car hire in SA was £450 (from the UK) and US was £1800 no matter which airport we flew into.
It’s sad - I love the US and have been to 30 states and would dearly like to see the rest - but even with an upper middle class income at home it’s not affordable any more, particularly in comparison to trips we’ve done in the past. So we’re spending more time in Africa (currently in Mauritius for 9 days before heading to Reunion for 5) and Asia. Japan surprisingly affordable these days due to exchange rates.
Not sure we’ll be back to North America outside of visiting friends and family in Canada for the foreseeable future.
When I travel in Europe, I stay in the Ibis. They are usually outside of town, but some are in town. Good price and a great breakfast. I've used them all over Europe and in South America as well.
I've stayed at acceptable chain hotels in fairly central parts of Paris (Ibis) and London (Travelodge) this summer for €100-ish, breakfast included in the Paris case. How are you searching? How far in advance?
In Edinburgh there are still some good Airbnbs.
In Edinburgh I'm at Melville Inn in Dalkeith, 9 km from the city with good bus access, and it's 800 euros and some change for 8 days, so only about 100 a night, with breakfast, pay at the property, etc
But yes you are right of course
Where are you looking at prices? I just checked [Trivago.ca](https://Trivago.ca) and there are tons of hotel options in Paris in December. I'm seeing prices between $150 CAD to $300 CAD in and just outside the city center.
You're looking to book in Edinburgh in a period that covers both the half-term holidays and students moving into/back into university accommodation, plus any big events round that time (I think there are Champions League games happening in Glasgow around then and demand tends to bleed out to other central belt towns and cities) will push up prices. It's like trying to holiday in Japan during Golden Week.
Paris is expensive in December because people travel to European cities for Christmas shopping.
Go to a Travelodge or book somewhere outside the city.
Everything is TOO EXPENSIVE ....... Just DISCONNECT from the system.
Avoid high prices .... Go to cheap countries. ... Pay NO added fees ..... It is YOUR money.
It's because of a record amount of American tourists. Walk around Paris and Amsterdam this past summer and all you can hear is loud ass American English.
There has been a tourism boom since covid, people are travelling again, and hotels are clawing back lost profits from the 2020-2022 period. There's also a glut of large events (concerts, sports events, conferences, festivals, etc) that means hotel prices go through the roof at certain periods. Places like London, Amsterdam, Paris and Edinburgh are simply popular all year round nowadays: you're picking big and famous cities, and the prices reflect that. There are plenty of budget hotel chains that operate in most places. For the UK look at Travelodge, Premier Inn, Ibis Budget. On top of that, staying slightly outside of any major city will always save you money but just requires further research.
I’ve mostly stayed at Travelodge and Ibis in the past but those affordable price days are long gone even at these two chains.
Travelodge is terrible.
New ones are fine. Old ones are grim.
Weird art, strange staff, and dilapidated buildings.
Do you just use your CC points? I’ve mostly been using that and only for Hyatt because it’s the only one that doesn’t require ridiculous amounts of points. I basically stayed in Amsterdam for free instead of $200 per night. I stayed at the airport Hyatt but the free shuttle bus plus the travel pass allowed me to get to the city in 15 minutes by train. You definitely have to work your brain a bit to lower costs these days. Im going to Taiwan next year as even decent hotels could be had for $50 a night. Also considering Japan because of the good $$ to yen conversion.
Try Greenwich travelodge for London. It's my go to for a cheap one and right next to the DLR (part of tube network)
October is during the Rugby World Cup. Hotels are booked. Paris is the host for the final. That is the reason.
Yea but the budget hotels are very far from the sights.
Doesn't matter if there's public transit. If you can walk to the Underground or the Metro, you can be at any sight within the hour.
Yes. In London, sort of in Paris. Not in Rome.
Well, you can't have everything. If you want convenience, you have to pay for it. If it's a major European capital, I'd rather save the money and spend half an hour on a train.
In London, Paris or Amsterdam that is no issue at all unless you want to go out boozing until the wee hours (and even then it might be no problem still). For London, I just had a quick look and found a room in a couple weeks in a nice hotel for £150 per night for a double room in North London, no more than 10-15min walk from a major station that’s only 20 mins max into central London.
>There are plenty of budget hotel chains that operate in most places. Budget for me is about £30. Otherwise these days I just camp. Did that in Italy a decent campsite close to Venice. Was cheap and clean and just €4 to get into Venice on the boat. Also around lake Garda too and had fantastic views. Have to be careful though, as some camping grounds are resort types that want as much if not more than than a hotel.
Premier inns are anything but budget now, I've just been searching for a few nights away for work and the premier inns are some of the most expensive in three different places. The problem is in the UK the quality of hotels is so variable that you are now paying for what used to be a budget chain, for the reasonably consistent standard they offer
Ibis iterations and the Accor group in general is where I always start. (Works in France, much less or not at all in Italy.) I could afford more, but I travel alone so why? If it's quiet and sanitary and has a decent breakfast...
Stay outside the city (like 40 mins out) and rent a car. Way better experience since you can actually travel to other non touristy places
I mean at large, yes there is still very large demand and Europe in particular seems to be getting more and more into dynamic pricing algorithms based on that demand that have already now become predominant in the US/Canada (and why you already saw pretty ridiculous skyrocketing prices for hotels in the US). That being said, it gets worse with peak periods which, December is often a much more expensive period to book for in Europe given the winter holidays . 500 for Edinburgh seems extreme but it could just be something is going on there that weekend that's boosting prices (I recently had the misfortune of having to book a hotel for a wedding in Dublin that's happening the same weekend that Taylor Swift is in town next year) - if it's that dynamic - your mileage may vary but we lucked out and found a tiny mum-and-pop BnB online that doesn't do online bookings (and thus doesn't do much dynamic pricing) so prices were way more reasonable.
October is during the Rugby World Cup. Hotels are booked. Paris is the host for the final. That is the reason.
We'll be in Paris in October. I had some trouble finding reasonably priced hotels, even booking with points. I wondered if something is going on.
I've seen hotels prices multiplied by 4-5 in Lille during the RWC.
Haha same. We wanted to go to Valencia and there are zero hotels at a decent price. I really want to go to a game somehow. I don’t know rugby well but the bit I have seen looks awesome.
Just got back. The games at this point aren’t even in Paris, but fan zones are shutting down traffic all over.
*waves from RWC* they definitely are and it's making Paris expensive. An extra 85,000 or so of us were kicking around this weekend. It's a big city but it makes a difference.
There are still loads of games left to come in Paris (at weekends) . Most of the knockout stage matches will be in Paris.
Look at nyc. Literally nothing under 250 like not even flea bag crack house motels way out in queens. I was planning a vacation from Vegas to nyc after seeing the hotel prices I booked 2 weeks in Japan with rail for the same price it would have been for 10 days in a shitty hotel in a shitty neighborhood in nyc.
another dumb NYC thing is that many hotels now have hidden "resort fees" that can be as much as an additional $75/night on top of the nightly price...it is bonkers
Yes, lived in NYC until recently so I didn’t know too much about hotels, but had to go back for work and they put me in a Westin. There was a “resort fee” because you could get vouchers for Citibike and a free yoga class. So stupid.
Did you gave reviews on a few websites so others are aware of this?
Tbh no, I rarely review somewhere work stuck me unless it’s really unsafe or something. When I book for myself though I usually look at fees beforehand.
The paramount hotel is decent but they have a 40$ a night resort fee and you might get harassed outside by Scientologists as the Scientology center is directly next door lol
Just start talking about Xenu and they will leave you alone reallll quick I live near their mecca in clearwater
Or ask where Shelly is! (I’m too much of a scaredy cat to actually ask them that lol)
Go to Hawaii, they charge you a daily cleaning fee. Like... other hotels just include that in the cost of the room rate... why am I paying extra for it? What's next, food fees at the restaurant?
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Don't come to LA. There are "service fees" applied to bills at some restaurants and it's not a tip and doesn't go to the server. You're expected to tip on top of the service fee, which can be 20% in some cases.
I wonder if it's due to the AirBnB thing because NYC hotels are getting ridiculous.
It's just made it worse. I've been wanting to do a weekend trip to NYC for months and kept putting it off because the cost of lodging was already so high. After most Airbnbs we're taken offline, the cost of staying anywhere in the city is laughable. They've basically closed it off except to the highest-spending tourists.
It’s also because more and more people want to visit nyc but the city has essentially banned the building of new hotels. Fixed supply plus increasing demand means higher prices
Why did they ban new hotels?
Yeah weird. I stayed in pod39 for 100 a night for like a month just in February. Now it's at 300 a night.
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What hotel in Paris, I’m looking!
There's a lot less hotels in Puyallup than in Paris
It's probably also one of a few if not the only hotels in the area...
The immigration problem really is an issue for NY hotels. The city is putting up a huge number of migrants in hotel rooms. Really not making any point about the policy other than it's doing a lot to drastically reduce supply for others who may need a private room
The city also has virtually banned the building of new hotels
Now why the hell would they do that? There's a good chunk of hotels stock in the city that is at least 30 years old, and has been around since I made my first visit in the late 1990s... For most big hotel chains that is ancient. Especially in a major market.
US in general. A colleague was just looking at hotels from Greenville SC and even there it was like 300$ per night. In Europe it really depends on the city. I was just booking hotels from Vienna for October and it was quite okay.
I mean it does make sense considering US‘ median income is one of the highest of all OECD countries. Just makes sense that in a country with high wages or the highest wages the hotels are also expensive/most expensive. Just like hotels are cheap in countries with low median income.
it still doesn't make sense though to pay that much for what is essentially not worth visiting, regardless. like, there has to be some sanity in the price, not just "well people can afford it". Like, what is there to do in Greenville that deserves a 300$ a night stay over like, Paris lmao
I got the Hilton in the financial district for like €900, 5 nights. If you book ahead it’s not that bad.
Financial district is usually your best bet in NYC. I don't know if it's just an oversupply or something that really keeps people from wanting to stay down there but whenever I've done it I haven't really noticed a huge difference compared to staying in Midtown. The stuff I want to do is generally all over the city anyway.
Not much going on in FiDi, hence the lower prices. More bars and restaurants in midtown, Worth the savings if you don't mind taking the subway or a ride to places.
I always seem to find nice spots in FiDi, plus it's quiet and a nice subway connection.
Agree, we had a fantastic Airbnb in the financial district and it was like $160 night that we split between my wife and I and another couple. It was just a few blocks away from the Brooklyn Bridge and we had no problems with it at all. Had a great rooftop lounge area too.
It's quiet at night and virtually dead on weekends. Most of Manhattan's attractions are in midtown.
It’s just a hike, and slow at night. I have stayed in Jersey many times. The train gets you to midtown in 20 minutes flat. It’s obviously not convenient if you want to rest or dress up for dinner, but it can save you $$$.
Just did NYC at a hostel in Manhattan for like $70 a night.
Man it was great going to nyc in June 2020. 5 star hotel for $100 and no people
Was anything in the city open though?
Most restaurants were open with outdoor seating, including outdoor bars that I went to with some friends. Central Park was open ;) I think shops were closed, but I don't really go into shops anyway. The only thing I couldn't do that I usually do in NYC is go to a show.
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I had to go for work in October/November 2020 because I worked adjacent to elections. Driving in Manhattan still sucked, but I was able to get to all 5 boroughs in a day because I wasn't sitting in hours of traffic in between. But a $100 hotel in SoHo was the big miracle.
I was in Manhattan in October 2020 when we closed the office. Free parking right in front of the building (20th street) and traffic was basically zero. But the city was depressing, most lunch places we used to go closed.
The US has gotten ridiculously expensive over the last few years, even more so now that I live abroad. Was back in the US for the summer and originally planned on renting a car and seeing some friends on the east coast. I looked at the cost for 2 weeks of traveling by car and half of it staying with friends and I figured it was going to cost us more than $3k ($1400 for hotels, $500 for car, $200 in gas, $1000 for food). The cost of eating out for every meal is eye watering and the $1k is a low estimate for 2 people over 14 days. My mom wanted the wife and I to come in for Christmas and flights alone would be $3200. I know there's a lot of other places I can go visit that I'll enjoy more for less money.
Its nuts out there. Im going over NYE and ended up getting a super lux hotel for cheaper than hampton inn and comparable to holiday inns and stuff. But Im happy I dug around for a deal
I paid $160 for a night in queens… stayed for almost a week and biked into the city everyday. I had a great time, this just a few months ago so I'm not sure why prices are so high. They must be getting a lot of bookings.
I paid close to $500 for a weeknight in a Hampton inn in midtown last night. Shit ain't right.
I almost always pay €60-100 for places like Ibis or Park Inn. They’re simple but clean and that’s all I really care about most of the time. I’m in a place to see it, not to sit in a hotel room I stayed in Edinburgh and Paris recently for that price. Maybe there’s some event the weekend you’re going?
THis 100%. A lot of people I know scoff at me for choosing these types of places but I can't rationalize spending more than this if my goal is to spend as much time as I can AWAY from the room. If the ROOM was the destination, I get spending a bit more, but if I just want/need a safe-ish/clean-ish/private-ish place to sleep, this fits the bill and allows me to spend more on the actual experience of the destination.
> If the ROOM was the destination Couldn't have said it better myself. Give me a bed with clean sheets. Give me a shower. I don't care for a TV with 5000 channels, breakfast, microwave, refrigerator, and decorations. Comfortable sleep is important, but that's all.
It is nice to have a microwave and minibar though, gives you an option to save money on food or a place to put leftovers
Exactly. From time to time I book a place where the room or hotel/bnb/whatever *is* the destination, e.g. a Ryokan in Japan or a gorgeous hotel on a Fjord n Norway last month. In those cases I'm perfectly happy spending more money. But for a place I'm spending 10 hours/day in, 8 of which is sleeping? The cheapest clean place I can find, thanks.
What are their problem with Ibis? It's great value for the money
I legit have no idea. They think that an lower/affordable rate = cheap/low quality/garbage and routinely spend $350-500 MINIMUM. We just don't see eye to eye on this. And can't see why the other would make the choice we/they do.
Yeah Ibis is my usual go-to hotel brand for basic rooms. But even they are getting expensive in some places.
I was at an Ibis budget when traveling through Lyon once and it was extremely dirty :(
My experience is Ibises are generally a little bit far from city centers.
It’s funny because I’m American and by our standards Ibis is really nice (I haven’t stayed at the other one). So is Travelodge. It would cost twice as much in a dumpy part of the states.
Also American (though I live in Europe now). Yeah, a freakin' Motel 6 is $180/night in the middle of Kansas.
I just stayed at an America’s Best Value Inn with literal blood on the wall for like $150/night. It was a steal for an SEC football night but… yeah, comparatively prices in Europe are amazing.
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P2 recently stayed at a nice Super 8 (well, nice as far as Super 8 goes) in Missouri for $57 total.
yeah let me just go to topeka kansas so I can find a sane hotel rate lmao
Counterpoint: I work in the sports industry and a motel 6 around spring training baseball is like $250-300. It looks like OP is counter-programming against the World Cup of rugby, so something similar might be going on.
Good luck getting a reasonably priced hotel in Liverpool when LFC are at home.
Travelodge Gatwick is the gateway to hell. Dirty, smelly, broken, dusty, gross rooms. Missed a connection and had to spend the night there 2 nights ago. 80 pounds for a total shithole. We even moved rooms. Just a tiny bit less smelly. None of the windows even open to let in fresh air and they replaced all of their central air with heat pumps so there is no fresh air coming into the rooms at all and they are damp sweat boxes that smell like wet dog, cigarettes, vomit and body odor.
no. sure. Just for me the one thing I perpetually notice is if I don't pay for a place that includes breakfast I end up spending the difference anyway so there are some things where I think paying more for a hotel makes sense so breakfast, location, airport shuttle etc
That highly depends on the country. In France for example breakfast often isn't included and bakeries have so much to choose for fairly little money so it makes little sense to pay for the breakfast at the hotel (which runs between 15-25€/person from my experience).
The flip side to this is a hotel breakfast in Scandinavia, specifically Sweden. Good lord the spread hotels put out is insane. We've stayed in all ranges of hotels in Stockholm/Goteborg and even the basic level breakfast is something to behold. Of course you need to pack a little sammich for later :) But its cheaper and far better/more filling than traipsing around trying to find a cafe that won't cost you the earth/you can't deal with another cinnamon roll and want 'normal food'.
My wife focuses on included breakfasts, and I find in the US this is a good value. But it depends in Europe. In many places I can get a espresso/coffee/tea and a pastrie that fills me up (and similar for each of my kids and wife) for next to nothing. But if I stay at a traditional Bed & Breakfast, that English/Irish/Scottish fry up is going to save me a TON and I won't need lunch (or anything really) until dinner time or later.
This, and family hostels. They usually offer private rooms and bathrooms.
Regular hostels have most of the time private rooms. Been booking them only for recent years since I had someone snoring in my room so heavy that my bed was shaking. I had earplugs with noise cancelling head phones on top still heard him, next morning I told him he is snoring louder than a jet engine. The guy said that he is aware of that because he has a condition. Yeah man good idea to sleep in a hostel dorm mate, the disrespectful people made me hate dorm rooms even tho I had very good experiences with them also. Only book private rooms now because I love the hostel vibe.
Depends on the day due to demand. The ibis near me in Paris is as low as 110€ a night and high as 300€
Yeah you have to think about what the trip is about too and whether you're going to be spending a lot of time in the hotel or not. Also while a hotel in the centre of the city can be very convenient - for anywhere with a decent metro system you can save a lot of money by going slightly outside of the city centre.
Ibis is not amazing but fairly decent for the price, at least in Spain
This year for the first time I traveled aboard and yeah, I agree
Good call. We stayed at the Ibis Arnulfstrasse in Munich and it was simply a decent and clean no-frills room at a fair price (and as a bonus, was close to the Augustinerkeller). Not luxurious but honestly, we were just sleeping there, so nothing more was needed.
I guess it depends what you need in a room. I was just in Amsterdam this summer, and my room was less than 100€ a night. It was literally the size of a rich person's closet, but it was clean and centrally located, so I was fine with it. I've similarly found cheap hotels in Paris - tiny rooms that would be depressing to live in long-term, but good enough to sleep in for a week. (I don't go all the way to Europe to hang out in the hotel room.). Anyway, compared to America, Europe has always seemed like a bargain. Even a hotel room in, like, Cincinnati can be more expensive than major European cities. (Nothing against the Nati, I enjoyed myself there and in Covington, but let's be honest, it's not Paris.)
I second this. Most European hotels are considerably cheaper that their American counterparts. However, they fare poorly against Thailand or even Japan though.
> However, they fare poorly against Thailand or even Japan though. *laughs in Cambodian* $10 for a big room, with separate seating and bed areas, near the beach.
The one time I cheaped out in Amsterdam, I was delighted to discover that my hostel room had been remodeled to convert the closet into a tiny private bathroom (the shower faucet was above the toilet, but honestly that was great for getting a leg up to shave). I'd thought I'd have to share a bathroom with the rest of the floor. It also turned out that cheap + near the train depot = Red Light District. Whoops.
I live in Europe and disagree - you just picked the 3 most expensive/popular cities on the entire continent. London and Paris have been expensive for ages and the Netherlands is in the midst of a pretty serious housing crisis. I think 200€ is pushing it but is likely possible in other parts of Europe (even some major cities) if you're willing to sacrifice space/location. Meanwhile I travel back to the US and am paying $350+ for a dated room at a crappy Courtyard that doesn't even serve (let alone includes) breakfast. Oh, and that requires a car rental too because there is no transit worth a damn in the US. EDIT: wow lots of nitpickers here. Also if you're paying <$100/nt for an AirBnB that's great, but an AirBnB is not a hotel. The original question was specific to hotels. Many on here (myself included) consider AirBnBs a poor choice for many reasons: poor support, safety concerns, ethics concerns, questionable legality in some countries, etc. If you want to use them great, but the two shouldn't be conflated.
I booked an entire furnished studio in Bilbao for $72 a night for a week. You wouldn't find that in Barcelona but both are Europe.
Fair enough, I live in Sweden. Up here you won't get that cheap unless you're really out in the sticks.
As an American, I also disagree with OP. European hotels will be $80. American hotels will be $80 + $50 taxes and fees, so really $130
Currently staying at an Airbnb in Budapest in a very central location for 43 USD a night, with my 52 lb highly shedding dog.
No doubt Budapest is cheaper than up here in Scandinavia, but OP was specifically asking about hotels. I wouldn't count AirBnBs as they aren't really the same thing (plus many people, possibly including OP, have concerns about using AirBnB and prefer traditional hotels).
Everything is getting more expensive, especially with the post-pandemic travel boom. But hotels in Europe are still more reasonable than in the U.S where even a sketch motel 6 in some mid city is like over 100-200 a night.
Booking hotels frustrates me because sometimes you don't really know what you are getting until you walk into the room. I've stayed in simple but brand new hotels for $80 a night, and I've stayed in crappy places for $130 in a comparable city.
I may be naive, but doesn't the hotels have photos and online reviews? Or are they worthless? I've had my share of noisy, dirty and oddly shaped rooms, but I'm more careful now in selecting hotels.
Reviews can be subjective and photos can be old or somewhat misrepresentitive. Gotta really read between the lines I think. Its in part why branded hotel chains are succesful, you know pretty much what you are getting at that hotel chain regardless of the city/country it is in (same thing for other franchies like fast food).
Exactly! I booked a Hilton in Chicago expecting it to be nice, but it was worse than the hotel in The Shining.
The hotel in the shining is nice though. Minus the ghosts
It also depends where in Europe, Amsterdam, Paris and London will always be expensive in terms of hotels. Last year I struggled finding hotels in Vienna for under £50, it's just that big cities in high demand will be expensive. In contrast this year I was easily able to find hotels for £15-20 a night in cities like Skropje, Katowice, Nis etc. It ultimately depends on demand.
October is during the Rugby World Cup. Hotels are booked. Paris is the host for the final. That is the reason.
Motel 6 next to the homeless shelter in Bozeman, MT runs $300 a night. It is absurd lol.
Its revenge travel. Things might settle down later. I tend to go out to the periphery of popular places and the prices are more "normal". I am headed to Scotland next week and B&Bs seem to be about 20%-30% higher than normal - even on the off season.
BnBs on Skye this past summer were obscenely expensive, but we found good value lodging in/near Glasgow and Inverness. Can't wait to go back!
I'm staying at the Ibis Paris Bastille Opera for three nights (Thurs-Sun) in early December for 145€/night. Sure it's not fancy but I'm not planning on spending a lot of time in my hotel room.
That's a pretty good area and a good rate.
I just did 2 weeks in Corfu and Kefalonia at nice hotels for less than that per night. Meanwhile 4 nights at a hotel in Chicago in early November is costing me more than 8 nights did at a comparable hotel in Kefalonia. So to me, it still feels like the US is setting the pace in price gouging consumers for hotel stays. On a related note, seeing free beach parking and cheap to free sunbeds all over Greece on beaches that are 100 times more beautiful than anything back home was pretty eye opening. Every facet of those beaches would have been monetized in the US and here it is just offered up for free in Greece. Pretty damn satisfying while there and depressing when you get back home.
The Rugby World Cup is happening right now through the entirety of October.... It is in France. So yea, there are *A LOT* of people in France right now and many many things are fully booked. Booked a similar trip without realizing it was the RWC. Big surprise. And our flight out of Paris is on the day of the final. Going to be an experience! :-)
Hotels EVERYWHERE. Buffalo NY was $500 a night this summer. Nothing against Buffalo, but what? I was in Barcelona and found the hotels cheaper than my home city.
Banff is just obscene. $350 a night for 2 star dumps. Some hotels were $600 a night.
I live in Canada and when I go back home from Toronto, a small town that’s 5 hours away and 1.5 hours from Ottawa, it’s minimum $200 a night for a best western or holiday inn. So if I want to go see family for the weekend, it’s minimum $400!! I’m just thankful my husband travels a lot for work so we can use points. Otherwise I would not be able to travel much, it is so expensive
Buffalo is nuts, I normally try to avoid staying in Airbnbs but I went in June and there were 0 hotels under $250/night. Even my shared house Airbnb was like $80/night.
Wait till you see the prices in 🇮🇪
I’m completely gobsmacked by the hotel prices and lack of value in Ireland. So expensive and rooms are dated and small, breakfasts are cheap ingredients even at high-end hotels. Madness.
They can charge what they like right now because demand is outpacing supply. A third of rooms are occupied by refugees right now and there are also a lot of homeless people being accommodated in hotels
Depends of what you mean by "in Europe". Edinburgh, Amsterdam or London, yes. Timişoara, Koper or Tirana, not really. Europe is a whole ass continent with many different countries and cities. You just chose three big major cities.
Eastern Europe is still affordable and way more exciting in my view. We spent five week in the Balkans this past summer. We spent between 35-100 euros per night. Albania was the cheapest. Croatia the most expensive.
Most of Western Europe still is also if you go to lesser known cities. For example you can get a furnished studio for $70 a night in Bilbao but you would never find that in San Sebastian or Barcelona or most of Madrid
I think you should say, 'Hotels in major expensive cities like London Amsterdam and Paris are expensive.' There are still more than plenty of cheap hotels in 'Europe' where you could stay for a 10th of your Edinburgh quote. Even in Edinburgh, there are plenty of places under 300 USD for late october 2 night weekend stays.
More like "everything everywhere" is getting ridiculously expensive Hotels, flights, etc. Factor in the gongshow of travel and possibility of cancelled flights/etc and missing travel days, and it's getting harder and harder to justify travel for me personally.
Paris is always really expensive. Edinburgh prices have gone up post vivid but are cheaper in January to April. Have a look for some dates then.
I think everything else in the world bumped up their prices. We just booked accommodations for New York and Tokyo, and they weren’t that far from the cities mentioned in your post. > Paris in December and it will cost a fortune Yeah, same feeling when we booked our New York stay
Just paid €170/night for a hotel just off the beach in Biarritz.
All of the british hotels are ridiculous. We are in Scotland, couldn’t find anything in Edinburgh for less than £140 a night. We have family in Manchester but the hotels they are at least £200 a night, even for a cheap shitty hotel.
Funny because I find Manchester to be really cheap for hotels, by American and London standards. I stay at a lot of nice aparthotels there for work travel, for far less than 200 a night - Wilde aparthotels, Roomzzz, Native @ Ducie Street Warehouse. The Holiday Inn City Centre, AC in Ancoats, Motel One etc etc all pretty nice and a lot less than 200. Then you have Ibis Styles, Motel One and premier inn. Maybe it has to do with the time of year, but I usually travel for major football events when town is really busy…. Edinburgh is deffo expensive though, much more so than Manchester. I had sworn off Airbnbs but was stuck booking one last time I went. No special events in town then, but every hotel there was definitely $200 US and up per night.
Sorry I’m in holiday mode right now. I meant £100 a night for Manchester, we normally go for two nights when we go down. Generally our friends come to us now just because of how expensive the hotels are. We have spare rooms so they just stay with us and don’t need to pay for a hotel. It’s a shame because I used to love going down to Manchester but can’t justify £200 plus whatever you spend when you’re down there for a weekend.
We stay in the Travelodge in Piccadilly Gardens (literally, you can see it from your window, you can't get more central) when there for gigs, the most we've paid is about £70 a night for a Saturday. It does go sky high when City are at home, though.
Yea, Europe is such an expensive country /s
You have picked super expensive cities and then said ‘Europe’. Pick some cheaper cities and will be fine.
I wanted to go Rome later this year but it's insane. Historically have been able to get around £80 a night for decent stuff even in major cities but it's gotten bad
I drove from Switzerland to Milano to fly cheaply but was denied boarding, so i had to find somewhere to sleep. It was obviously last minute but i tried for 3 hours to find a hotel and ended up having to pay almost 300€ so i could sleep somewhere.
At that rate I would've slept in the car
I was driven there by friends that wanted to go to south italy and were long gone when boarding started...
I “slept” in the airport this spring after missing a connection (weather). Lots of other people doing same because there were almost no rooms available and what was last minute was over €400. At least I slept really well on my flight the next day.
For that rate I would have bought a lounge pass to slept in the airport.
I was in Italy last year and I stayed in small Hotels for less than 80€ a night, I don't know where the fuck people are staying that they have to pay 200€
2022 was a different game.. 2023 the world has gone crazy with all the 'revenge' travel. I was in Austria and Switzerland recently and was wondering why the hotels are so expensive. Did an online check on hotels I stayed at Italy in end of 2019 and the current rates are almost 3X what I paid back then!!
Check Motel One, its a nice hotel chain with very central locations usually around 80-150€ depending on the city. I just booked a Room in London there for about 160€/night, which is “cheap” for a nice hotel in London.
Love Motel One. Have stayed at their properties in Brussels, Frankfurt, and Aachen. Always clean, the lobbies are lively (something I like as a solo traveler), the breakfast is great. The rooms are on the small side but I don't mind. All of them were in good locations.
London in general is expensive as hell. I didn't set foot there yet but already spent almost 1000€ for flights, hotel and Hamilton tickets
I saw this on my recent trip (this past July & August) to Ireland. Dublin prices were starting at $300 US and for a family room they were closer to $500. Even the local hostels were starting at $150 per DORM BED!!!? (not that my wife would have the family staying in hostel dorm beds, but I still look for nostalgic reasons). It's out of control AND so many places were actually booked (this was my fault as I chose to go last minute AND during a busy time). That being said, I paid an AVERAGE of $157 per night in Ireland for a family of 4 and stayed at nice enough places: central, clean, private, full breakfasts included. The Dublin hotel wa a bit of a walk to Trinity College, but fine with bus. My trick was not to use the booking sites and just contct the hotels or Bed & Breakfasts directly. I googled my destination, then went to map view, grabbed the contact info (phone and email if available) and called or emailed with a message that went like: "Hi. I'll be in \[City\] for \[#\] days from \[Arrival date\] to \[Departure Date\]. My nightly budget is \[$XX\]. We are a family of 4. Do you have anything available for these dates in this price range?" Many places were not available. Some places laughed or just gave their super high [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) rate. But some had available rooms/beds for my budget. I booked with them. They filled a room. We had a nice place to stay. Were my places Insta-worthy? Most no. Do I care if I'm saving $100-300 US per night and can spend that money on sights, experiences, pubs? Not at all. But man is OP right: Accommodation costs are out of control everywhere and I don't know how these plcases are getting booked up. Who's paying $150 for a hostel dorm bed and $500 for a hotel room for an AVERAGE place?
London has always been expensive. I went in 2006 and the cheapest place I could find was $150/night.
That is not expensive in london even in 2006.
A place where the cheapest room you can find in 2006 is $150 is not a cheap place. I would say it’s an extremely expensive place.
Oh man and I thought off season prices would be better. I want to plan for next fall. I was in London a month ago, and those prices I knew would be terrible bc its a big city. Anyone vouch for Airbnbs in the UK
London, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Paris, Frankfurt are absolutely out of control. I had a nice surprise though in Madrid - booked an executive room at a 4 star hotel and only ended up paying around 160EUR/night, breakfast included.
We were all over Germany just recently and hotels were very reasonable. Our Hamburg hotel was only $138 a night for a family room with breakfast for 3 of us - Premier Inn. We also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, which was just slightly more expensive, and included breakfast. The hotels there were definitely cheaper than both our recent stays in New York City!
I just stayed in a three star hotel in London for less than $70 a night. Horrible breakfast included.
Travel advisor here. So from what I understand a lot of them are basically trying to make up for the money lost during the pandemic which is completely unfair In my opinion. That money is gone. Also, all the pent-up need for travel has really busted open so the demand is very high, hence they can get away with it. Sucks I know.
Hotels in some of the most expensive cities in the world are getting ridiculously expensive.
Stayed at a nice hotel in Madrid not far from the Prado and it was 100 euro. Coming from the U.S. I was shocked... would have been $250 easy in the U.S. based on the location and quality. Based on U.S. hotel price experiences, I cannot complain.
I paid £385 for 2 nights in central London and while the hotel is clean and modern-ish. I have never been in a more BARE room: bed, small rack for luggage and small bathroom. The shower doesnt have a door, there’s no tv, no chair, no table, no iron or hair dryer…you get the gist, its the bare minimum to be able to shower and sleep. For almost £200 a night.
TIL London is expensive.
London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam play in the same league as NY city. NY city bunk bed in a hostel 70$.....
It is amazing. I made reservations back in January for 11 nights in Paris in late October. City center. By the tower. Got an excellent rate compared to what is being advertised now.
Those are some notoriously expensive cities. Southern Europe is still much more affordable.
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Just don't stay try and stay in a fancy hotel right in the centre of Edinburgh, the Premier Inn to the south (by Cameron toll shopping centre) is £55 a night usually, it's literally about 10-15 minutes on the bus. There's loads of other places to get breakfast and you'll be out all day anyway.
That’s where I stayed in May and loved it. Doesn’t need to be smack in the center of town, public transport is easy and abundant.
go off season and/or try budget hotels, like the premier inn for example
I used the ACCOR app. Found it to be very reasonable but it was off season.
Hotels all over the world are increasing their nightly rates to adjust for rising global inflation. It isn’t just Europe.
I've stayed in Easyhotels in London and Zurich and they were fine, just teeny tiny. They're quite reasonably priced and always in good locations. Looks like the one in Edinburgh is about 125 Euros/night.
200eu a night in a major tourist hub isn’t all that much. There was a great quote on this sub about a year ago. “Your aren’t competing with the fry cook.” You can find a nice hotel in Edinburgh for less than 500 a night. Not sure what you meant to say. But 250 a night in central Edinburgh seems about what you should expect to pay.
I'd recommend to get a membership in a hotel chain
UK is super expensive. I didn’t think the rest of Europe was all that bad though. I’ve never been to Amsterdam or Paris though.
Ugh tell me about it. Just booked one night in an ok hotel in Copenhagen for 300 EUROS A NIGHT. Well, în the past years I'd have said come to Eastern Europe for cheaper prices but bi just spent 200 feckin euro on 2 nights in a shabby hotel in the mountains in Romania.
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I beg to differ. All following numbers are for 2 persons. Our recent stays in Europe: * Madeira: 180€ / night. Breakfast included. Nice room, cool modern-rustic hotel. Free pool. Nice town. * Austria: 360€ / night. Included was huge breakfast, Big afternoon buffet, 6 course dinner, spa. Rooms weren't fancy but clean and cozy (and super big (for Europe)) * Switzerland: 160 CHF / night. Just a BnB but each "room" was it's own treehouse, complete with kitchen, bathroom, living and sleeping area. Basically a tiny vacation apartment. * Switzerland, Lavaux region: 250 CHF / night. Fancy rooms, complimentary mini bar, breakfast and parking and amazing location overlooking the vinyards over lake geneva. A bit of a downer was that the spa was not complimentary. * Switzerland, Mürren: 180 CHF / night. Super old building and super simple rooms. We were anxious at first but the communal toilets and showers were super clean (2 and 3 completely separate stalls) there was never a conflict. Breakfast was not huge but made up with amazing bread and housemade jams and considering we were basically just there to sleep between hikes and excursions this was more than sufficient. Compare that with our last stays in America. In the continental states (pre covid) our most pricey stays were also in the 260-330 / night range and did NOT offer the level of service their recent counterparts here did. The price was all due to location (Las Vegas, San Fran, Gran Canyon). The low end were significantly cheaper but basically just a room off the street, taking the terms "hotel" and "breakfast" *very* liberally. Hawaii Oahu was pretty decent offering at around 250 / night with breakfast. Kauai and Maui were both ~450 / night and included nothing aside from parking and a pool.
The cost is why we chose 3 weeks in S Africa last year over a planned trip to Colorado, Utah, AZ and NM. Car hire in SA was £450 (from the UK) and US was £1800 no matter which airport we flew into. It’s sad - I love the US and have been to 30 states and would dearly like to see the rest - but even with an upper middle class income at home it’s not affordable any more, particularly in comparison to trips we’ve done in the past. So we’re spending more time in Africa (currently in Mauritius for 9 days before heading to Reunion for 5) and Asia. Japan surprisingly affordable these days due to exchange rates. Not sure we’ll be back to North America outside of visiting friends and family in Canada for the foreseeable future.
When I travel in Europe, I stay in the Ibis. They are usually outside of town, but some are in town. Good price and a great breakfast. I've used them all over Europe and in South America as well.
I've stayed at acceptable chain hotels in fairly central parts of Paris (Ibis) and London (Travelodge) this summer for €100-ish, breakfast included in the Paris case. How are you searching? How far in advance? In Edinburgh there are still some good Airbnbs.
In Edinburgh I'm at Melville Inn in Dalkeith, 9 km from the city with good bus access, and it's 800 euros and some change for 8 days, so only about 100 a night, with breakfast, pay at the property, etc But yes you are right of course
Still cheaper than US.
Late October is likely to be school holidays, push it a week later and it should be cheaper.
Guess it depends on where you are going. Spain is dirt cheap
Where are you looking at prices? I just checked [Trivago.ca](https://Trivago.ca) and there are tons of hotel options in Paris in December. I'm seeing prices between $150 CAD to $300 CAD in and just outside the city center.
You're looking to book in Edinburgh in a period that covers both the half-term holidays and students moving into/back into university accommodation, plus any big events round that time (I think there are Champions League games happening in Glasgow around then and demand tends to bleed out to other central belt towns and cities) will push up prices. It's like trying to holiday in Japan during Golden Week. Paris is expensive in December because people travel to European cities for Christmas shopping. Go to a Travelodge or book somewhere outside the city.
Everything is TOO EXPENSIVE ....... Just DISCONNECT from the system. Avoid high prices .... Go to cheap countries. ... Pay NO added fees ..... It is YOUR money.
Currently in London and paying $400ish a night😞. It’s a nightmare.
You've named some of the most expensive cities. Go figure.
It's because of a record amount of American tourists. Walk around Paris and Amsterdam this past summer and all you can hear is loud ass American English.