Today’s Big Story

The Rising Costs of Hotels

Rooms are getting more expensive and the number of pricey suites has soared

How much is too much when it comes to the price of a hotel room? This is a relative question, of course. For some, they’d rather spend more on an excursion or maybe upgrade their airfare. Me? I always appreciate a nice hotel room to relax in at my destination.

And while $1,000 a night used to get you a swank suite or Instagram-worthy view with high-end amenities, these days that price might not even get you in the door at some luxury hotels. 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 numbers are truly shocking: The number of U.S. hotels with an average daily rate of $1,000-plus in the first half of this year was more than 80, compared to around 20 in 2019, according to new data from CoStar Group, a global real-estate analytics and data firm. In Europe, the number of places tripled, to 183. The increases far outpaced the opening of new hotels.

Inflation-scarred budget travelers may be pulling back but affluent ones still have plenty vacation money. And hotels are happy to cash in, luring these coveted high-end customers and worrying less about the ones in the middle. In boosting their share of high-price rooms, hotels are capitalizing on wealthier travelers who haven’t fully scratched the revenge-travel itch. Their homes and investments are worth more so they are still splurging on vacation, unlike those who are starting to pull back. “It seems like everyone is on that $1,000-plus bandwagon,” Jason Squatriglia, a luxury travel concierge in New York, tells the Wall Street Journal.

Even standard rooms, while not hitting four-figures, have risen to record prices. The New York Times reports that earlier this summer, the average hotel room rate in the city rose to $301 a night. Of course, it’s not slowing down the pipeline of visitors. The occupancy rate for hotel rooms last year was 81.7%, significantly higher than the 46.7% low of 2020, but still not as high as 2019, when 86.2% of hotel rooms were occupied.

Special Counsel Jack Smith Revises Trump Indictment

The filing came in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling giving former presidents broad immunity

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a “superseding indictment” in his federal Jan. 6th case on Tuesday, accusing former President Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The slimmed-down indictment comes after the conservative-majority Supreme Court largely sided with Trump when it ruled in July that presidents have immunity for “official acts”.

Court papers say the superseding indictment was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case. Trump was charged last August with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Those charges remain, however, the papers say the new indictment “reflects the Government's efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court's holdings and remand instructions.”

By trying to rescue his case after his initial indictment was gutted by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, Smith signaled that he is determined to bring the former president to justice — even though there will be no trial before Election Day. “I think this is basically Jack Smith saying, ‘I still got this’,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a CNN legal and national security commentator, said after the special counsel on Tuesday filed a modified indictment endorsed by a new grand jury. Trump blasted the new indictment as “a direct attack on democracy” in a string of social media posts. “The case has to do with ‘Conspiracy to Obstruct the 2020 Presidential Election,’ when they are the ones that did the obstructing of the Election, not me,” he wrote.

Social Security Data Breach

Here’s how you can see if you’re part of the hack and how to secure your information

Did you hear about the latest data leak? As many as 272 million Social Security numbers are floating around hacker forums after someone stole them from a Florida-based background check company called National Public Data. But Vox points out that the breach is not as catastrophic as some headlines might make it seem. One news station ran a hyperbolic headline that claimed, “Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American.” They haven’t.

However, there is still a lot of information out there. Some of the exposed data includes Social Security numbers, home addresses, full names, information on relatives and more. If that’s concerning, you can find out whether you’re one of the billions who’ve been affected by visiting npd.pentester.com. If your information is out there, the Social Security Administration recommends visiting IdentityTheft.gov and filing a report and getting a recovery plan in place. Cnet says it’s probably a good time to freeze your credit, too.

Speaking of credit, Mashable reminds us that news of leaks like this serve as good reminders to check your credit report for anything out of the ordinary. (You can always get a free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com)

Labor Day Gas Prices Will Be Lower

For the fourth straight week, the nation’s average price of gasoline has dropped

Here’s some good news for anyone preparing for a road trip over the long weekend. Travelers hitting the highways over Labor Day will find lower gas prices than last year—and potentially the lowest prices since 2021—as the cost of gas continues to drop as it typically does at the end of summer.

“Despite the popularity of summer road trips, overall gas demand is down as daily driving habits have changed post-pandemic, preventing pump prices from spiking,” AAA reports. The national average over Labor Day weekend last year was $3.81 a gallon. But in recent weeks, gas prices have remained steady, hovering around $3.50. GasBuddy, the popular fuel-price app provider, reported that for the fourth straight week, the nation’s average price of gas has declined.

Forbes collected the current cost of a gallon across the nation and prices are the highest in Hawaii ($4.66), California ($4.61), Washington state ($4.18) and Nevada ($3.97), according to AAA, and while costs are lowest in Oklahoma ($2.89), Mississippi ($2.89), Texas ($2.95) and Tennessee ($2.96).

The Science of Gratitude

Why it benefits you to embrace being thankful

Gratitude is powerful. It's a transformative emotion that's been revered by cultures across the globe for centuries. Beyond its cultural and spiritual significance, science has delved into the study of what being thankful really does for our body and mind—uncovering its profound impact on mental, emotional and physical well-being. It's linked to everything from happiness and life satisfaction to less anxiety and depression.

But, despite all this, being grateful just isn't our default setting, is it? If it were, we probably wouldn't need all the reminders. But there's a scientific explanation for this, as well. The “hedonic treadmill” is a hypothesis that the American Psychological Association says that for better or worse, “people's happiness tends to return to a preexisting baseline level after positive or negative life events have occurred.”

Don’t let the bad stuff in.