Colorado - Land of Outragous Hotel Prices

We are on vacation, coming home from NASFIC - a science fiction convention held during years when WorldCon is held overseas. As we drove south on Interstate 15,we began to look for somewhere to stop for the night. We look for motels in the price range of $50 to $75. In Colorado, we could not find anything in that range - every motel was over $100! Fast food was outrageous, too. At KFC, the "$5 Fill-Up" was $7.99!! At TacoBell, the $5 crave box was $10!! Dotto with other fast food outlets. Are the hotel owners and fast food franchisees just greedy and playing "rip off the tourist"?