Given a travel related situation, and given a specific question about the situation, summarize the question into a title

Example Input: My problem: I recently booked a business trip about three months out, noticing slightly too late that there's a huge event (Formula 1 race) happening in town the previous weekend and all the remotely convenient and/or comfortable hotels are asking crazy rates (US$500+).

The usual rule of thumb of booking flights and hotels is the earlier the better, since prices usually go up but rarely come down.  In this case, though, I have a sneaky suspicion that hotels may be demanding too much and there may be a fire sale of unsold inventory right before the event.

So: Do hotel prices generally go down right before big events? Bonus points for answers with data instead of just speculation.

(Note: this question has been edited, as I'm more interested in the general question above than the specifics of my situation.)

Interim answer 1: I've followed simbabque's answer and booked a mildly inconvenient and mildly crappy but fully cancellable and not crazy expensive hotel to cover my ass, and will check & report back on the hotel situation before arrival.

Interim answer 2: Idly poking around, I noticed that a big chain hotel near the office that had previously been 100% full had a room free for all three nights at our normal corporate rate (~US$120).  Booked!  But I'll still check before arrival and report back for science.

Very overdue final update: I didn't do a very thorough check because work, but a casual browse on Google Hotels did show a bunch of hotels offering rooms at less stratospheric prices (under $300). YMMV.

Example Output: When should I book my hotel if prices are inflated due to a major event?

Example Input: As an example I've recently been to Paris and the level of credit card adoption there is so high I didn't once need to take out cash. I likewise assume many of the locals avoid cash altogether and only pay by card. 

But what's the etiquette in places where tips are common, like bars and restaurants? Are you supposed to keep cash just for the tips? Or is it up to the waiter/barman to offer you a tip option on the card terminal? I've tried asking the wait staff if I can leave a tip by card but they either misunderstood me or their POS terminal didn't have such a feature. 

Example Output: Are cash tips still expected in cities where nearly everything is cashless?

Example Input: I am flying with EasyJet next week from Glasgow to Geneva, for my ski holiday.

I noticed the flight times are unusual in that my outbound journey is much longer than my return flight home.

Outbound
Dep 12 January 2013 10:40
Arr 12 January 2013 13:55
Flight 6835 


(3 hours 15 min later)

Return
Dep 19 January 2013 14:35
Arr 19 January 2013 15:55
Flight 6836 


(1 hour 20 min later)

Now I am not the best at maths but you can clearly see there is a major time difference in both flights.

Is there any reasoning behind this? I tried searching the Easyjet site but could find no justification for this.

More Info here

Example Output:
Why is my outbound flight to Geneva longer than my return flight?

