CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — On Nov. 8, the United States will reopen its borders for fully vaccinated travelers. The reopening means flights and hotels will be more expensive as the holiday season approaches.
The White House will lift restrictions at its land borders and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico. Unvaccinated travelers will still be barred from entry.
Travel expert Peter Greenberg joined “Morning in America” to explain the costly consequences of reopening.
“Even before the Biden announcement, holiday bookings this year were already up 35% over 2019,” Greenberg said. “Within the first 24 hours of the announcement, air travel bookings to the United States went up nearly 700%.”
Greenberg says airfare and hotel prices are on the rise as a result.
“Airfare is going up right now by three and four percent every day; that’s compounding all the way through the end of this year,” Greenberg said. “That’s not just airfare, that’s hotels as well.”
To combat the price hike Greenberg recommends calling the hotel directly to find out what amenities are no longer available due to staff shortages and to negotiate your room rate.
“If they’re not giving you room service, dry cleaning, housekeeping or a restaurant option then why are they justifying giving you a higher rate when they can’t provide those services in the first place,” he said.
Greenberg also recommends traveling the week before or after the holidays to cut even more costs.