NOLA Hotel Rates - insane right now

[BoozinCroozin]

I often look for deals with hotels because you can sometimes get them well in advance at a good rate. I was looking for April 8-10, 2022 (I know it is some odd 8 months out) and the prices are extremely high. It is definitely at the level that we would fly in only 1 day early instead of 2. Even then, it is questionable. I know Mardi Gras is well over. Rates a few months ago were 75% less than now. Just not sure what is going on.

 

[princeton123211]

On 8/16/2021 at 10:16 AM, BoozinCroozin said:

Rates a few months ago were 75% less than now. Just not sure what is going on.

Hotels have been starved for months and they intend on trying to recoup some of that. Even now many are operating at reduced capacity due to staffing issues and are charging as much as they can on the few rooms they are making available. 

 

Travel demand is at unprecedented levels right now and will most likely continue that way for the next year or two. In most places it's not even about price, its about availability and when that happens theres always someone willing to pay top dollar. There just aren't going to be many "deals" or discounts for quite a while. Now is a great time to dust off those points or award stays to try and get around some of the high pricing. 

[JerseyGirlJen]

I think they anticipate that as more time goes by that people will be very desperate to travel so they're inflating prices.  Plus, it's the week before Easter so some schools may take that week prior for Spring Break.

[BoozinCroozin]

8 hours ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

I think they anticipate that as more time goes by that people will be very desperate to travel so they're inflating prices.  Plus, it's the week before Easter so some schools may take that week prior for Spring Break.

Thank you. I am seeing prices that far out will be very high. As the date approaches (1-2 months out), they become much more reasonable regardless of holiday. We will continue the wait an see approach. Biggest issue at the moment is airfare to the point we may have to switch cruises.

[JerseyGirlJen]

Hopefully they will drop to a reasonable level, but its certainly a bit stressful to feel like you may have to move your plans.  Hopefully that doesn't happen.  Any chance you could fly a day or two earlier that may have more reasonable prices and stay at a cheaper hotel to offset the additional days?   A number of years ago I had a trip booked to Florida and was shocked that airfare was pretty much double the normal price and I couldn't figure out why.....until it dawned on me that my trip fell during the Jewish holidays and Florida is a popular destination.  I played around with dates and found if I flew the day before I paid a normal flight price and stayed at a lower priced hotel for that extra night.  

Another tip I heard was to purchase flights on a Tuesday and try off hours like midnight, 5am, etc, in addition, use a different computer to search flights so there's no cookies of your repeated searches on specific dates.  I have no idea if it works but it's worth a try.

[BoozinCroozin]

3 hours ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

Hopefully they will drop to a reasonable level, but its certainly a bit stressful to feel like you may have to move your plans.  Hopefully that doesn't happen.  Any chance you could fly a day or two earlier that may have more reasonable prices and stay at a cheaper hotel to offset the additional days?   A number of years ago I had a trip booked to Florida and was shocked that airfare was pretty much double the normal price and I couldn't figure out why.....until it dawned on me that my trip fell during the Jewish holidays and Florida is a popular destination.  I played around with dates and found if I flew the day before I paid a normal flight price and stayed at a lower priced hotel for that extra night.  

Another tip I heard was to purchase flights on a Tuesday and try off hours like midnight, 5am, etc, in addition, use a different computer to search flights so there's no cookies of your repeated searches on specific dates.  I have no idea if it works but it's worth a try.

We are stuck with flying in on Saturday. I expect Southwest flights to come in at $400-$500 when released. If they are higher than that, we will have to move our cruise out of FL. I can't see spending more for flights than the cost of the cruise.

[JerseyGirlJen]

17 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

We are stuck with flying in on Saturday. I expect Southwest flights to come in at $400-$500 when released. If they are higher than that, we will have to move our cruise out of FL. I can't see spending more for flights than the cost of the cruise.

Bummer being stuck on Saturday.  I understand though, and I hope it works out that you can keep the cruise that you had originally planned.  Keep fingers crossed!

 

[BoozinCroozin]

The cruise is on Sunday so flying in Saturday is not the real big issue. Just concerned flights are going to be so expensive. Switching now doesn't seem to be an option either because the cruise cost increase will be as much as the flights increase. I am hoping SW comes in with decent fares. 

[stephanieelena]

Hotels for NOLA end of Nov are ridiculous. Plus parking rates, yikes. I'm shopping around. Might stay further away from Port and French quarter to save some money 💰