My €0.014:
1) As the article Natale posted pointed out, this is all the result of market forces. People weren't traveling, so hotels dropped their rates in part to stimulate demand. Now that people are traveling, hotels can up their rates both to realize more money and to price ration an increasingly scarce resource (their rooms).
2) As 124816 points out, business travelers expense things like hotel rooms, airfare, and meals on the road, so they're not in the habit of price differentiation (have you ever noticed that you have to
pay for wi-fi in an upscale hotel like, say, a Hilton or a Marriott-Renaissance--just to mention the last two hotels I've stayed in (both of those Priceline deals, I might add)--that caters more to business travelers? That's the dynamic here, as a business traveler will pay for that on an expense account, whereas the recreational traveler won't).
3) For what it's worth: business travelers tend to stay in hotels from Sunday-Thursday. You may see hotel and airline "deals" (not as good as before, but still "deals" compared to the weekday rates) for Friday-Saturday stays and flights, as the hotels/airlines try to maximize use of otherwise unused rooms and seats over the weekends.
But this kind of rate fluctuation is the price you pay for living in a "free-market" economy. So enjoy!
Cheers,
bcg