World Cup Hotel Prices Go Through Roof
Tuesday, 10th January 2006, 16:21
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LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - England football fans can expect to pay up to five times the normal price for a hotel room when they descend on Germany for this summer's World Cup.
About 100,000 supporters are expected to travel to the country when the tournament kicks off in June. And German hoteliers are making the most of high demand with steep price hikes.
Fans travelling to Frankfurt to watch England kick off their campaign against Paraguay may not have much money left for their beer and wurst after paying for their bed.
A double at Frankfurt's Manhattan Hotel costs €160 for the night before the Paraguay game on June 10 - up from just €30 a week before.
The move has angered supporters' groups. London EnglandFans spokesman Mark Perryman said with prices like that, the host towns of Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Cologne risked fans voting with their feet and taking their spending money to neighbouring eastern Europe.
"You expect some inflation, but with these prices they are actually shooting themselves in the foot. They usually make much of their money from fans eating and drinking and they will risk losing that with unreasonable price increases.
"Fans are extremely adept at bringing inflated prices down to their budget. Before we went to Japan we heard of how expensive Tokyo was, but we stayed out on the outskirts of the city.
"Germany has a very good transport system and so Germany will be our oyster. If Cologne and Frankfurt put up their prices then they can say goodbye to England fans. Lots of people are planning to base themselves in Poland or the Czech Republic where it's much cheaper."
Kevin Miles, international co-ordinator of the Football Supporters' Federation, said the €60 Frankfurt hotel room he stayed in for the World Cup draw last month would rise to €270 for the England games in June. He said: "I was not delighted but then that's capitalism - that's the way it works."
Mr Miles thought that people would adopt different travel patterns than for the Euro 2004 in Portugal. He added: "Unlike Portugal, not many people will to stay in Germany for three weeks. They will fly over for individual games or stay elsewhere. Lots of people going to the Cologne game will stay in Amsterdam which is just an hour and a half down the road. Camping will also be popular."
Many of the big Frankfurt hotels, such as the Holiday Inn, have already sold out whilst others have seen price hikes. The Mercator is up from €60 to €135 and the Hotelschiff Peter Schlott up from €40 to €70 from June 3 to June 9.
Supporters hoping to pick up savings when Rooney and the boys move on to play Dwight Yorke's Caribbean minnows Trinidad and Tobago in Nuremberg on June 15 will be sorely disappointed.
The price of a double at the Bavarian city's Landhotel Silberhorn jumps from €69 for June 3 up to €150 for 14 June. The Landgasthof Hofener Garten leaps from €59 to €155 over the same period.
Cologne hotels have also been driving their prices up. A night in a double room at the plush four star Marienburger Bonotel before England's game against hotly tipped Sweden on 20 June costs €230 - up from €59 just one week before.
The three star Ars Vivendi has doubled in price over the week from €60 to €139 for a double room. Most two star hotels have sold out completely, snapped up by package operators and eager fans
