Are hotel rooms more expensive than they used to be? Jan Freitag’s answer may surprise you.
As the national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group, Jan has been studying hotel pricing trends for years. And he believes that in many places, hotels are more of a bargain today than they were in 2019.
Jan joins this episode of the podcast to help us make sense of the mystifying world of hotel pricing. He explains how inflation, demand and labor pressures shape the rates you pay when you stay, shares his forecast for hotel pricing for the rest of 2027, and gives some tips for how you can score great hotel values for your tour groups. Plus, we have news about travel company closures at home and abroad and Brian’s reflections about when and how to wind down a travel enterprise.
Podcast: Embed
Insights from Jan
Jan brought a data-rich perspective on the hotel business that helped illuminate the current pricing environment. Here’s what he had to say about the perceived high prices of hotels today:
“They may feel expensive; the reality is the price increases in the hotel industry have actually not kept track with the inflation rate. So when you go back to 2019, you see that today’s rates are roughly 22% higher than they were then, which may sound like a lot. But CPI, the consumer price index, went up 25%. So in what economists call real terms, room rates today are actually cheaper than they were pre-pandemic.”
Plus, he had great perspectives on:
- How demand impacts hotel pricing
- How the Canadian inbound dip is impacting the American hotel market
- Why luxury travel continues to skyrocket
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Follow Jan Freitag on LinkedIn.
Learn more about CoStar Group and find “Tell Me More: A Hospitality Data Podcast” at costargroup.com.
Learn how to improve your group travel program with our Group Travel Essentials series.
Key Moments From This Episode
1:19 — Travel News: Travel company closures at home and abroad
2:45 — News From Us: Essential education for group travel planners
6:41 — Hotels aren’t as expensive as they seem
9:07 — How hoteliers handle inflation
10:18 — The factors driving hotel prices up
13:53 — Is immigration policy impacting hotel staffing?
15:52 — Forecasting hotel trends for 2026 and beyond
17:21 — Surprising ways demand is affecting hotel prices
21:45 — The stratospheric rise of luxury travel
23:24 — Is the Canadian inbound slump impacting room rates?
25:53 — How to find hotel savings for tour groups
29:32 — How COVID disrupted the hotel renovation cycle
34:00 — Are hotels any cheaper abroad?
47:06 — Brian’s thoughts on when (and how) to close your travel company
Watch the Full Interview
See the full interview with Jan on our YouTube channel.
About the Podcast
Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.
You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.
