Why are hotels in the US so much more expensive than than the majority of the rest of the world but also so much worse???

I'm genuinely curious about what everyone in this sub thinks.

I consider myself a seasoned traveler, having been to most of Europe, Asia, and South America, a handful of countries in Africa, and Australia/New Zealand. Some places are more expensive and some are cheaper but generally I feel like in many parts of the world there will almost always be semi-decent hotels for a medium cost point, or at least always the option of budget hotels (I know some places are the exception to this but overall that's my observation). About two months ago I was out in Italy, Croatia and Greece. I stay in hotels, or nice hostels for the majority of my traveling, and across Italy, Croatia and Greece I don't think I spent more than €150 a night at all, ever on that trip. Most places were very nice accomodations in scenic locations and they averaged €50-90 or so per night. I think the most I spent was in more populated parts of Italy where I paid €120-150, max. Many of them also had good amenities such as meals included, and also had features like access to pools, in-hotel bar/restaurants, etc.

Right now I'm back in the US and I'm trying to book a basic, roadside hotel as a midway point rest stop on a road trip through the midwest on route 80. I am not near a major city for miles in either direction. In fact I've never heard of most of the towns nearby where I'm going to be stopping. The hotels I'm seeing are nothing special whatsoever, just your run of the mill, grey and white-interior, chain hotels. No amenities (maybe they'll have a vending machine or ice machine if I'm lucky). Can someone explain to me why each and every one of these chain hotels I'm seeing is upwards of $180 a night, if not into the $200-300's area, for a SIMPLE basic bedroom with nothing else included????

I'm simply aghast at these prices for literally nothing other than a bed and roof over my head, and I can't imagine these hotels are sold out, they don't seem to have the "rooms running low on these dates" notifications that I get on Expedia sometimes - there's nothing major happening in these areas (I checked!) - no conventions, no sightseeing, nothing!!! I simply don't understand what the extra cost of these depressing hotels are going to. I looked for cheaper motels but it seems many of them are simply out of business. Honestly I would rather just pull over to a rest stop off the road and sleep for a few hours than pay these prices.

I read somewhere that the US hotel business is going bankrupt, and I wonder if that's related to the unaffordability of the hotels vs what they offer you as a traveler.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind the price point of US hotels? I would really like to understand how it makes sense!

Submitted July 02, 2023 at 11:45PM by CursedTonyIommiRiffs https://ift.tt/sj5WfvM