Average U.S. Hotel Room Price Tops $100

I’m toying with the idea of heading west on an American road trip this summer, but a short piece in today’s USA Today gives me pause. Gene Sloan writes that a milestone has been reached: According to Smith Travel Research, the average U.S. hotel room price now tops $100 per night. To be exact, it’s $102.79. Granted, that figure can vary drastically, depending on the market—from an average of $84 in Detroit to, gulp, $254 in New York City, Sloan writes.

But still. It reminds me of a column last year by Thomas Swick in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. In “Losing Sleep over the Arrogance of the American hotel,” Swick balked at being given a rate of $125 per night at a Best Western in Beaufort, South Carolina when he had recently paid less than $100 for a room in a historic hotel in Italy where Mozart had once bedded down.

Wrote Swick:

For years my goal has been the same: to find a place that has a central location, perhaps a little history or character, and rooms less than $100 a night.

Looks like we’re both out of luck, Tom. If my road trip happens, I’ll be traveling with a tent in tow.

 

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