Before the Fed lowers interest rates this month, we would ask the PhD sages in their cloistered temple to pay attention to this weekend’s Wall Street Journal headline:
Admittedly, these are at some of the nation’s more upscale chains, not La Quinta or Motel 6 (where your editors stay!). Still, as the WSJ reports, these are the prices for even the LOW-priced rooms:
It used to be that paying $1,000 a night for a room got you a swank suite or primo view with perks. Today, that price might not even get you in the door at some luxury hotels.
And we’re not just talking about holiday weekends or big events like Taylor Swift concerts.
Want to check into the Ritz-Carlton New York NoMad the first weekend in October? That’ll be $1,300 for a standard room. A room at the Four Seasons Miami Surfside that weekend starts at $1,500–with an advance purchase discount. Prefer a fall weekend in Hawaii? The new 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay on Kauai has rooms as low as $1,110 if you prepay.
The story is another indication that 1) inflation is still with us and 2) much of the gains of this post-pandemic economy have eluded the middle class that politicians say they care so much about.