Hotel Price Gouging?

[matthewb0051]

Had a great weekend with our oldest getting his college class ring, it is a big tradition.

Thursday night hotel was $119; Friday night for same hotel was $400. If you arrived Friday, it was a 2 night minimum. I can't imagine spending $800 for 2 nights in Holiday Inn Suites.

I just spoke with next door neighbor. Her kid is at same university. She said she has 2 rooms booked for graduation, Embassy Suites, 2 nights. Her total is $4,000. I about fell over.

So my question is this: is this price gouging? I get the supply/demand thing but I don't see how a $120 room becomes a $400 room just because an event is happening on a particular weekend. I could understand about $250 but this seems a bit excessive.

The location is not Austin. Just a small college town with a big university.

It looks like the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits this type of activity BUT only after the Gov has declared an emergency. So that sucks and isn't helpful.

[masraum]

I don't think what you're describing is in any way unusual. I would think that there should be some limit, but who/how is that limit decided is the big question? I suspect there's no good/easy answer and it continues to occur because someone is willing to pay if someone else isn't. Agreed, $119 room does not become a $400 room. Maybe it's really a $225 room, but because of the fact that it's a small town, they lose money for a lot of the year or Sun-Thu and then are able to make a profit on weekends or graduation nights.

[GH85Carrera]

The same thing happens when any large event is going on. Look at room prices in Austin for the F1 race week. They go up to insane levels. Supply and demand.

[matthewb0051]

I guess I was being a bit cagey about the location. It is College Station. So it's unlikely that the hotels are sitting un-occupied most of the year.

Last weekend alone there were 3 or 4 major events going on. To include Professional Bull Riders event.

If it were Lubbock I could understand trying to make a buck to cover the dry periods. But this isn't that type of situation.

[Scott Douglas]

We faced a lot of the same thing when our son was playing baseball for SDSU and we'd go down to see the home games on weekends. First year we justified staying over night to keep the gas bill down and miles off the car. It was fun but we spent a lot of money doing it. The next couple of years we would just do the drive (90miles one way) and live with it.

Edit: Go Aggies! (My late uncle was dean of ag there for 25 yrs)

[matthewb0051]

It reminds me of the scene in "The Firm" where Mr. Mullholland tells Mitch (Tom Cruise) that overbilling has gotten so outa hand that no one gives it a second thought anymore.

I'm sure people give it a thought but then just pay and so the hotels continue on with it.

We have a relative that left at midnight to drive 3 hours back to San Antonio on Friday night rather than pay the amount or the 2 nights. His (their) daughter had gotten her ring that day.

[Sooner or later]

Happens at any big event.

I have been looking for rooms for OU/Texas football.

Hilton Garden Inn is $152 this month.

Game weekend in Oct $470

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

...is this price gouging?

Hotel prices have gone crazy. I recently checked into staying in the Wailea area of Maui and was floored by what they're charging for rooms at the nicer resort hotels. To be clear, these are places right on the beach with all the amenities you could want, but still. The last time we stayed at places like this (not 20 yrs. ago either), the least expensive rooms were maybe a few hundred per night.

Here's what rooms are starting at now ↓



I doubt any of these places are hurting for business either. Are there really that many people out there who can drop this kind of cash for a hotel room?

[gordner]

I was staying in St. Louis a couple of years ago, at the hotel that looks down on the end of the baseball stadium. Someone must have screwed up booking me and not realized the length of my stay, as I had a room that had a prime view of the field, normally reserved for game day parties I gather. Anyway, on the afternoon of game day, I had a knock on my door and a polite inquiry as to whether I would like to pay the upgraded game night rate of just short of 3 K for the evening, or move across the hall and continue my 225 USD per night rate. I moved across the hall lol.

[Scott Douglas]

Take a look at what's happening over on the fourth of July in Santa Barbara for a wedding thread. No way I'd want to be there for that one.

[VINMAN]

Its typical when any big event is in town.

Iv'e been going to Key West for the past twenty five years, every Nov, for the Offshore World championships. The hotel prices for race week are double, if not triple for that week, what they are the week before and the week after.

Same thing for Fantasy fest and Hemingway Days.

.

[David]

$400 doesn't seem unusual but $4,000 your friend is paying does.

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by David

$400 doesn't seem unusual but $4,000 your friend is paying does.

That's 2 rooms at $1,000 per night x 2 nights. Embassy always is a bit more but that is crazy talk

[Paul T]

$120 to $400 is not at all unusual for event weekends. The delta is often much higher than that in nearly every college town for football weekends. The 4k for embassy suites is nuts though.

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

So my question is this: is this price gouging?

Nope, free market at play. They provide a non-essential product and would not charge that much unless it made them a profit at the end of the day, so someone out there is paying those prices and as far as I am concerned this is the way it should be. I feel differently when it comes to lack of regulation and subsequent gouging on essentials such as, say, electrical utilities (cough Texas cough).

[Bill Douglas]

At times like that I've stayed at Hotel Toyota. My Scottish ancestors would be spinning in their graves if I spent that sort of money.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

I just spoke with next door neighbor. Her kid is at same university. She said she has 2 rooms booked for graduation, Embassy Suites, 2 nights. Her total is $4,000. I about fell over.

At four-grand a night, I'd have considered the 60 mile commute from The Woodlands.

_

[rockfan4]

Do you belong to any hotel loyalty program?
We wanted to visit our granddaughter last summer, but there was a PGA event in town. Lots of hotels were booked up, and the ones that weren't had raised their prices. But they didn't raise the number of points to stay a night. I went on the chain's website, bought points, and used the points for the room. Ended up costing about the same as we normally spend for a Saturday night.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

At times like that I've stayed at Hotel Toyota. My Scottish ancestors would be spinning in their graves if I spent that sort of money.

I spent a few nights in the Toyota Inn as a broke azz college student. I've even been homeless for a few days back then ....

I've also done the four night minimum at VERY jacked up prices a few times too ... dang wimmins

[stevej37]

Maybe consider renting a motorhome?