Why does the hotel price change every time I look?

Because hotels use dynamic pricing — rates recalculated continuously from demand, supply and forecast — and because some of what you observe is not the price changing at all.

What genuinely moves the price:

Occupancy and pace. Systems track how quickly rooms are selling against the same point last year. Selling faster than forecast pushes prices up; slower pushes them down.

Lead time. Prices typically follow a curve — moderate far out, dipping in a middle window, then rising sharply close to the date as remaining inventory becomes scarce. Last-minute bargains exist only when a hotel has failed to fill.

Events. Conferences, concerts, sports fixtures and school holidays are priced in months ahead.

Competitor rates, monitored automatically and matched or undercut.

Length of stay and day of week. Business hotels price weekdays high; leisure destinations price weekends high.

Channel. The rate differs between the hotel's own site, online travel agents and wholesalers, because commission structures differ.

What is not the price changing:

Currency conversion moving between visits.

Different room types or rate plans being shown — a non-refundable rate against a flexible one is not the same product.

Cached results from a previous search.

On the personalisation question. The belief that sites raise prices because you looked before is widespread and the evidence is weaker than assumed. Studies have found some price steering — showing different results or ordering — and limited evidence of personalised price discrimination. Most repeat-visit price changes are ordinary dynamic pricing affecting everyone. Using private browsing rarely changes anything, though it costs nothing.

What actually helps: compare the hotel's direct site against agents, since direct is often cheaper or includes extras; check free-cancellation rates and rebook if the price falls; and join the loyalty scheme, which frequently unlocks a lower member rate immediately.