GOUGE-FREE GAMES
Bookings fixed to prevent future 2018 price-gouging
EIGHT thousand Gold Coast hotel rooms have been pre-booked to stop price-gouging during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The Games organising committee secured the rooms and will re-sell them at regular rates to prevent the profiteering experienced during the 2014 Glasgow Games, when hotel prices quadrupled.
Rooms have been booked in more than 125 hotels, ranging from budget to five star.
EIGHT thousand Gold Coast hotel rooms have been locked in at today’s rates for the 2018 Commonwealth Games to stop visitors being pricegouged.
And hoteliers have been told not to expect to charge sky-high rates because room occupancy is only tipped to hit about 90 per cent, meaning there will always be room at the inn.
STR Global business development manager Matthew Burke yesterday issued the warning during an industry briefing attended by Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones in Surfers Paradise.
The Games organising committee has pre-booked the rooms at 125 hotels.
By booking rooms in each of the hotels, which range from budget accommodation to five-star, it is expected they will act as “levellers” to prevent the remaining rooms being rented at exorbitant prices.
The move comes on the back of massive price gouging at the last Games held in Glasgow when visitors were forced to pay up to four times normal rates.
Mr Burke said room rates jumped so high because Glasgow had a shortage of beds but because the Coast has so many hotels, a modest 8-10 per cent room price increase was expected.
He advised Coast hotel operators to instead focus on boosting long-stay bookings to make the most of the Games.
“The Gold Coast should expect to see average (room) rate growth similar to a typical April during the Games,” Mr Burke said.
“It is unlikely to reach the growth seen in Glasgow.”
Ms Jones also launched a service program yesterday that would soon be rolled out to the city’s hospitality industry in the hope of improving the customer’s experience.
“We want visitors to experience the best of what the Gold Coast has to offer and receive the kind of quality experience that keeps them coming back,” she said.
Titled the Embracing 2018 Gold Coast Quality Service Project, the initiative will be driven by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council.