Booking sites love telling you a room is “a great price”. Great compared with what, exactly? Last Tuesday? The rate they made up for the crossed-out bit? Without a price history you've got no way of knowing, and you end up booking on vibes and a red countdown timer.
So here's how to read a hotel's price history properly, using one real hotel from our own scans. Spoiler: the same room can cost ten times as much depending on when you stay, and the “usual price” is rarely the number you should care about.
One hotel, £44 to £436 a night
Take Hotel d'Or in Cala d'Or, Majorca. We've scanned it 3,948 times over 13 months of stay dates, across Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com and Agoda. Across all of those, it's averaged £175 a night for two adults, with rates anywhere between £44 and £436.
That £175 average is the least useful number on the page. Nobody stays in an “average” month. Here's what it looks like broken down by the month you'd actually be sleeping there:
| Stay month | Average a night | Range | Scans |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | £101 | £74–£142 | 413 |
| June 2026 | £166 | £116–£356 | 1,142 |
| July 2026 | £219 | £114–£436 | 1,207 |
| August 2026 | £198 | £122–£407 | 775 |
| September 2026 | £122 | £74–£205 | 174 |
| October 2026 | £67 | £44–£238 | 170 |
July cost more than three times October on average. Nothing shocking there, it's Majorca in the school holidays. The more interesting column is the range. In July the same hotel was seen as low as £114 and as high as £436. That's not a seasonal swing, that's the same month, the same building, and wildly different prices depending on which night, which room and when the scan happened. If you'd been offered £200 for a July night, the history says that's actually on the decent side of normal. Offered £400? You'd be paying near the very top of anything we've seen.
So how do you actually use it?
Three questions, in this order. First: which month am I comparing against? Ignore the all-year average and look at the row for your stay month. Second: where does my quote sit in that month's range? Near the bottom, book it and stop fretting. Near the top, it's worth waiting or looking at a neighbouring week. Third: how many scans is it based on? A range built from 1,207 scans is telling you something. One built from 1 scan is telling you about one Tuesday.
It helps to zoom out to the whole destination too. Across Majorca as a whole, our scans put October 2026 at a typical £94 a night (522 scans) and July 2027 at £247 (246 scans). “Typical” there means the cheapest fifth of rates we've seen for two adults sharing, so it's a realistic “good price” rather than a rock-bottom fluke. The full month-by-month view lives on the best time to book Majorca page, and the Majorca price tracker shows which way things are currently heading.
One honest caveat, because I'd rather you trusted these numbers than got excited by them. Every figure here is from past scans, not a live quote. The price you'll actually pay is whatever the booking site shows on the day, and that's the one to compare against the history.
The bit most people skip: after you've booked
Here's the thing about a range like £114 to £436. Prices don't only move before you book. They keep moving afterwards, and if you've got a free-cancellation rate, a drop after booking is money you can simply take back by cancelling and rebooking the same room cheaper.
Most people never check again once the confirmation email lands, which is exactly why the hotel doesn't mind. That's the whole reason HotelMonitor exists: you tell us what you booked and what you paid, we keep watching, and we email you if the same stay gets cheaper. It's free, and booking sites pay us commission rather than you paying us anything. There's more on how it works on the price drop after booking page.
My verdict: a hotel's price history is the single most useful thing you can look at before booking, and almost nobody looks. Five minutes on the month table beats any amount of “only 2 rooms left!” panic.
Already booked somewhere?
Add your booking and we'll watch the price for you, then email you if the same stay drops. Free, and no account faff.
Hotel d'Or figures from its HotelMonitor price history page, last updated 13 October 2026 (3,948 scans). Majorca destination figures from our destination data, checked 14 October 2026. All prices are per night in GBP for two adults, observed in past scans of Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com and Agoda; they are not live quotes, and availability and the final total are confirmed on the booking site.