TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS a night for a hotel room with one king-size bed in Nantucket. More than $4,000 a night for a “Desert View Suite” in Utah. Travelers itching to get back on the road are getting an unwelcome surprise: hotel sticker shock. According to a recent survey from travel booking app Hopper, lodging prices in the U.S. are up 42% from earlier this year, and are likely to rise even more by the winter holidays. “We’ve seen crazy high levels at some leisure destinations,” said Hopper economist Adit Damodaran. Why the spike? “Demand for hotels just skyrocketed overnight” around Memorial Day, explained Andrea Stokes,...

TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS a night for a hotel room with one king-size bed in Nantucket. More than $4,000 a night for a “Desert View Suite” in Utah. Travelers itching to get back on the road are getting an unwelcome surprise: hotel sticker shock. According to a recent survey from travel booking app Hopper, lodging prices in the U.S. are up 42% from earlier this year, and are likely to rise even more by the winter holidays. “We’ve seen crazy high levels at some leisure destinations,” said Hopper economist Adit Damodaran. Why the spike? “Demand for hotels just skyrocketed overnight” around Memorial Day, explained Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at research firm J.D. Power. Plus, many guests chose to stay stateside this year instead of going abroad. The good news: You can still ferret out bargains or wrangle a discount. We asked a few travel industry insiders for their best booking tips:

Time it right

Hopper advises booking at least 30 days in advance for a hotel in a resort area. But for city center hotels, try the opposite tack: Book less than two weeks from arrival to get last-minute deals when inventory opens up. And look for midweek specials.

Bundle up

By booking an air and hotel package you might save up to 40%. Recently, JetBlue Vacations offered a three-night trip to Palm Springs for two in October with prices starting at $949 per person including round-trip air from New York and a room at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa.

Look at underhyped destinations

“Now is a really great time to discover lesser-known places,” said Misty Belles, spokeswoman for the Virtuoso travel consortium. Considering a wine-country escape? Check out the Willamette Valley in Oregon instead of Napa, she said. For a beach getaway, look into Destin in the Florida Panhandle rather than Miami.

Check the source

Get on the mailing list for your desired hotel and follow the property on Instagram, where deals sometimes pop up. Another insider tip: Pick up the phone and call. Some hotels will offer unpublished discounted rates to those who book directly, and those rates won’t turn up on random web searches.

Work with a travel adviser

You may have to pay a fee but advisers have the wherewithal to throw in a bunch of freebies—from complimentary breakfasts and Wi-Fi to room upgrades—that can save you money at checkout. Look for one who’s affiliated with a consortium, like Ensemble, Travel Leaders or Virtuoso, which use their collective buying power to get deals, such as a third night free at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Experts say price increases reflect an economy on the upswing from pandemic lows, but higher demand has made some vacation essentials harder to come by. We explain why, plus share some strategies to help avoid the sticker shock. Photo illustration: Jacob Reynolds/WSJ The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

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