Hotel rates

[hyperD]

Heard on LBC this morning that there are suggestions that some central London hotels increased their room rates last night.

Any truth in this from anyone here that was staying in London last night?

If so, I hope the guilty ones pay the extra back into the rescue services funds/charities...

[Lucifer Box]

Also on the BBC website...

Hundreds of commuters spent Thursday night stranded in London and some have accused hoteliers of cashing in on the crisis in the capital.

Prices at a number of London's hotels increased by more than double on Thursday night, the BBC has learned.

Lastminute.com was warning customers about the price rises two hours after the first blast.

A Trading Standards Institute spokesman said profiteering after an act of terrorism was reprehensible.

With the transport networks down and no way of returning home, one businessman from Manchester told the BBC he had paid £250 for an £80 room.

Bomb attacks

A spokesman for the British Hospitality Association, which represents hotels, said he was surprised by the increases.

Commuters said they were appalled, and thousands chose to walk for hours to reach home rather than stay the night in a hotel.

London's hotels were 80% full before the blasts, and on Wednesday the UK tourist industry was celebrating the news of London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

But some US tourists have now cancelled bookings for the coming week following Thursday's bomb attacks, which killed at least 37 people and left 700 injured.

[Lucifer Box]

Some comments from the masses also...

Did you have to spend the night in a London hotel? If so, did you experience any rise in prices? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.

Perhaps the price rises reflect the difficulty of providing a service, the hotel staff and services being affected just like everyone else.
Illi, East London UK

Working in Docklands with little prospect of easily crossing a stricken capital I booked a room quite early on in the day. No problem: £47 room-only. Maybe I was lucky.
Mark Powell, Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK

The hotels caught profiteering on Thursday must be named and shamed in the media, with a list posted at all the major railway stations and airports for all to see. In contrast, we should also acknowledge those hotels and businesses which opened their doors without question to help injured victims and passengers. This is the real spirit of London, not a few greedy hotels, giving the rest of us a bad name.
Mandy Friend, Croydon, Surrey

Let's really name and shame these appalling hoteliers. I remember at the time of the Paddington rail disaster how Sainsbury's automatically assumed a key role of their premises being used as a point for injured people or people caught up in the confusion. Hoteliers should have followed their example and opened their lobby doors - as a minimum - to those who weren't able to pay for a nights' accommodation.
R Sooknanan, Berks

One hotel chain raised their rate for police officers from £85 to £150, despite having a prior arrangement in case of major incident! Disgusting!
Name Withheld, Woking

If it does come to light that some of London's hotels capitalised on yesterday's atrocities, after knowing that London had been attacked by terrorists, then they should be named and shamed, the least they can do is donate the day's takings to the ambulance or emergency services. When the rest of London pulled together and a terrible day they should be ashamed.
Helen, London Bridge, London Bridge

I had to stay in a hotel that cost me £270 when normally the price is £65. Its pathetic that they are cashing in during such bad circumstances.
Matthew Montichinos

Raising prices for rooms in hotels last night is disgusting behaviour and those hotels should be forced to repay the extra. But in the long term the hotels of London will become a victim, they have been suffering reduced business since 9/11 and now this will finish a lot of them off as tourists are already cancelling their stays in London.
Graham, Wallington

[milanbenes]

I am happy to say that my stay in Laaaaaaaaaandaaaaaaaaaan

this week has cost the big co I am contracting to, 205 gbp per night for
the room and breakfast

keep spending, great innit

Milan.

[Francko]

You in Landan, Milan? Could have gone for a pint.

p.s. no, don't worry I will get the rounds.

[milanbenes]

thanks Franco, next time, leaving this afternoon

it's been good though, old friends have come over
for a few beers each evening

that's the good thing with IT and an IT degree background,

most of your old mates from uni ( or poly/uni in my case) are
based in the saaaaaaaaafffffffffff east

Milan.

[shaunbhoy]

Lucifer, surely it's just supply and demand, we don't live in Russia!

[Lucifer Box]

Lucifer, surely it's just supply and demand, we don't live in Russia!

My thoughts precisely, sb.

People who can't afford the rates clearly aren't doing jobs that are particularly important so should be more than able to make do on a park bench.

[Not So Wise]

You could view it as supply and demand if you were twisted like that I guess, nearly everyone else though would view it as profiteering from a tragedy.

Any hotel that did it should be publicly named so people can know just where these hotels sympathies and loyalty’s lay when trouble happens, because it most certainly is not with London or it's people, if anything would could easly assume they would be hoping for more bombs so they could increase their profits again.

[Lucifer Box]

You could look at it another way - perhaps they are offering discounts on days when there are no bombs?