“Market” is always the argument for greed. But I also know that this kind of behaviour will – in the long run – damage your business. $ 650 per person (that is $ 1300 for a double room …) in a 2 star hotel can only be explained by pure greed and many customers will give that hotel the ratings it deserves later. It is not the way a business should be run.
Imagine you land at an airport, low on fuel, and the guy in the fuel truck does the same and tells you “sure € 20 per litre”. Of course at one point you’ll pay for it, just to get out of there. How about a pharamacy charging € 50 for the last box of painkillers?
In Munich, where I live, my best and oldest friend (pilot too) has a nice hotel. At the time of the Oktoberfest the very nice double room (and that’s 4 stars) is € 200 instead of € 100, maybe even a little more. That’s because you will not find a room within 50 miles around Munich and I think that price can be justified.
Eventually, if you imposed a law that hotel prices have to be fixed over the year, it would be less profitable to hold surplus capacity for the few “spikes” such as this, and the total number of beds would decrease in the long run. It would be even harder to find a room in such situations.
happens all the time, everywhere.
Hotel rates during trade shows, during special events (Rio Olympics anyone?) where demand skyrockets will go through the roof. Obviously there is an element of greed, combined with the simple temptation to “make a killing” when the situation is such that people will pay these silly rates.
I recall some concerts here in ZRH where black market tickets were up to 5000 CHF… mostly one time only events and quite possibly last time events at the same time. Barbra Streisand was one I recall where such immense prices were paid. Probably the solar eclipse would kind of qualify as a one time/last time event…
I would probably not do it, unless it is really something I want to attend so badly that I don’t have a choice.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
I recall some concerts here in ZRH where black market tickets were up to 5000 CHF
Yes, but this is black market and not official pricing!
Flyer59 wrote:
“Market” is always the argument for greed. But I also know that this kind of behaviour will – in the long run – damage your business.
Exactly. They did not quote their outrageously insane price (1000% increase! not the 100% you will seen in Munich during the Oktoberfest) to me, but to a travel agent. Specialised in tours of the United States, where he brings thousands of wealthy tourists (he charges in the order of 4000 Euros for a two-week trip – no 399$ all inclusive stuff!) every year. You can rest assured that he has already blacklisted the hotel chain who did this to him (name&shame: Best Western) and will not book a single room there in years to come. Same goes for me. Best Western? Never ever again. Which means that their insanity already costs them more than they will earn in the short run.
Yes, we live in the capitalist part of this world too (there’s not much else left anyway). But this kind of “turbocapitalism” has not reached us yet. Recently we went see Adele in Cologne. All concerts sold out ten minutes after they were put on the internet. I booked a hotel there for the night in walking distance of the town centre and the concert venue. Almost everything was sold out in Cologne for that day, but they still charged their normal rate. Why? Because they are stupid? Or because they want me back as a customer on my future visits to their town? Maybe also because greed is considered to be indecent behavior around here. A good and healthy business relationship is much more important than one which results in the maximum profit. In four weeks time we will go see Billy Joel in Frankfurt. One of only two concerts he gives this year outside the US. I have not booked us a room there yet, because I can rest assured that I will not be ripped off. It is simply not the way we do business in Old Europe.
I am fine with living in the capitalist world too. But “market” is a bad excuse for decisions like that. “Market” is not everything, ethics and fairness still exist. And I know that most places in America handle these things differently too, and it is also my experience.
As I said, I have seen stuff like that around the F’borough airshow. I stayed (for 300 pounds) in a room where in which I would not leave a dog. Not cleaned for years, blood stains on the bed, all kinds of little animals … At 1 am I ran away and slept in the car.
The whole “Farnborough” thing has been a huge ripoff since I went in the 1980s. Terribly mismanaged traffic (5hr queues), excrement on the floor of the toilets (got to walk carefully if wearing sandals). Now, 30 years on, the crowds are much smaller and management has improved but I understand the locals still rip you off for accommodation. But driving actually works well nowadays, because they send you to distant car parks and there is a free shuttle bus.
The same may be an option for WN’s eclipse visit. Stay 50 miles away and rent a car.
Exactly what many do at EDNY. €50/night at Hangau, €250/night at €50/night hotels at Friedrichshafen… so even Germany does this. The bus is dirt cheap too.
Some local reseach is needed.
Peter wrote:
Stay 50 miles away and rent a car.
This is what we are going to do. We will have cars anyway. Staying the night in the place where we wanted to see the eclipse would have been convenient but is not a necessity. The plan was to arrive there the evening before to do some “location scouting” for a good place to see the event (I am told you can’t just put up your camera tripod in a field next to the road there unless you don’t mind getting perforated by shotgun bullets…), have a good night’s sleep (jetlag may be an issue for some) and then go see the eclipse after a good breakfast. As it is now it will mean getting up a little earlier, driving for an hour or two and then look for a good place. And then out of there and onwards to where they know how to treat their visitors decently.
Peter wrote:
But driving actually works well nowadays, because they send you to distant car parks and there is a free shuttle bus.
Oh, don’t get me started on these Farnborough shuttle buses. Maybe we just had bad luck, but when we came out there was a huge queue and no buses were coming through. To their defence, I think there was some accident or the like on the road back from the parking lots. But after 1 hour of waiting, we figured out we should have just done an hour of walking to our car park and would have been there by then…
what_next wrote:
It is simply not the way we do business in Old Europe.
Very sorry, that’s balooney. Try to book a hotel in FFM for the book fair period. Or in Cannes during the festival or one of the big trade shows. Good luck with your Old Europe…..
Flyer59 wrote:
I stayed (for 300 pounds) in a room where in which I would not leave a dog. Not cleaned for years, blood stains on the bed, all kinds of little animals
That’s pretty standard for hotels in the UK. Must be the worst on the planet.
It is clear (and normal too) that hotel prices go up during trade shows, etc. But you would never and nowhere see 1000 percent, that’s ridiculous.
A hotel near a more important trade show might raise its price 100 or 150 percent, and I have seen 200 percent, but that’s it. For example the COMFORT HOTEL close to AERO at EDNY is € 220 per room during the show and normally it’s between € 120 and € 150. And that’s a very good and super clean and modern three star hotel (could also be 4 stars), with very nice rooms and a top of the line breakfast. You do not want to compare that with a 2 star Best Western for $ 1300 per room and a coffee form the styrofoam cup ;-)
