Uber introduced us all to the term "surge pricing," and it may well be the most hated feature of the overwhelmingly popular app. Yet while Uber may have become the face of dynamic pricing, it really just put front and center a long-standing hospitality and service practice. When rooms and seats sell out, prices go through the roof.

At least, it's been a previously long-standing practice.

According to Scott Brennan, the president of hotel business for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, expanding competition from homestays and inexpensive hotels has made it harder for properties to charge those egregious prices when Kanye comes to town.

"I do think where Airbnb has really impacted the brand is when a city is in a sellout situation for an event," he said. "In the past a hotel would have gone to the highest rate it could charge. You would see something like a budget brand selling a room for $400 or $600 a night during the Super Bowl."

Now, those customers just rent somebody's spare bedroom.