India vs Pakistan, CWC’23: From INR 40,000 to 1 lakh/night, surge in hotel prices on match day in Ahmedabad

The stage is set for the biggest clash of the winter between India and Pakistan during the ICC Men’s Cricket ODI World Cup on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Following the schedule announcement on Tuesday, fans from across the world got busy booking flights and hotels for the CWC 2023; however, the latest reports emerged state there is a surge in hotel prices for D-day, Sunday, October 15, in Ahmedabad, with a ten-fold increase in prices in comparison to July in most hotels.

While in some luxury hotels in Ahmedabad, where the usual tariff for one night is somewhere between INR 5000-8000, on October 15, the prices shot up from INR 40,000 to INR 1 Lac. For instance, the Pride Plaza hotel, which costs around INR 4000 for a room per night in July, is charging a whopping INR 75,000 for that one night. 

As per a report in PTI, the Welcome Hotel by ITC Hotels – whose one-night fare is around INR 5699, will charge 72,000 for the same room on October 15.

Meanwhile, because of this there has been non-availability of rooms at all five-star hotels in the city, including the ITC Narmada, the Courtyard by Marriott, the Hyatt and the Taj Skyline Ahmedabad.

Speaking on this over-the-roof hikes in hotel prices in Ahmedabad on October 15 for India vs Pakistan match, Hotels and Restaurants Association (HRA) – Gujarat spokesperson Abhijeet Deshmukh said,

“If the hoteliers think that the demand is very high for a particular period, they will try to make some revenue because they are assured that rooms will be full despite higher rates. Once the demand drops, the room rentals will also come down.”

Budget hotels to see surge in prices later

He added since the schedule is out and fans from across the world are booking hotels for that particular day, there are chances of no occupancy in some hotels.

“Since their first choice would be luxury hotels and they plan in advance, they might have started booking rooms in city hotels, which might have resulted in no occupancy in some of the hotels,” Deshmukh added.

He also added the surge in demand for the luxury hotels is mainly due to NRIs and upper middle-class people living in nearby cities or states who would be travelling for the match. Deshmukh noted budget hotels in the city are yet to see this rise in fares because the middle-class people, who would be deciding to stay there at the last moment.

Meanwhile, the home World Cup begins with the opener between England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium on October 5, while India will play its first match against the mighty Aussies in Chennai.