As the CIAA draws near, the price of hotels always goes up. But one curious reader has checked into whether the prices are up higher for CIAA week than they will be for the ACC tournament. The ACC tournament is actually March 13-16, so the rates he or she checked for March 5-9 are not comparable. But it would be interesting to see if the rates are lower during the ACC tournament. Hmmm
Hello Mr. Hart:
A conversation about hotels raising their prices during the CIAA sparked a debate on whether hotels have a right to raise their rates when an influx of people are visiting Charlotte.
Which brought up the question whether the hotels would charge more during CIAA weekend than they would during the ACC weekend.
My curiosity peaked, so I did some research by performing an internet search of hotel rates from Wednesday, February 27 through Sunday, May 2nd and compared them with hotel rates from Wednesday, March 5th through Sunday, March 9th.
Many of the hotels were already sold out CIAA weekend, however, two hotels (Doubletree-Gateway and Hilton Executive Park) had availability and the rates for CIAA were drastically higher ($100-$150).
This result makes me wonder what pricing has already been sold to CIAA attendees. I called the Doubletree and their first response was that it's a longer stay; when I clarified the hotel stay was for the same days and same amount of days; I was referred to the voicemail of the Sales Office.
Is it price gouging?
Anonymous
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Hotel rates an issue already
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13 comments:
As a long time C.I. Double A’er, I’d like to enlighten folks just a bit about hotel rooms. Overall, prices for rooms do go up during CIAA. That has been the case ever since I can remember, and as was mentioned; that is the case in most cities when a large event is happening (like the races in Charlotte). But what many of your readers may not know is that all of the schools get a discount on the hotel rates. Each school has its own host hotel (s). At some point during the year, rooms become available and schools release information to their alumni regarding the method for reserving those rooms. Sometimes there’s a code they use when making reservations online or by phone. And other times there is a special form they print off from the schools website and fax to a particular contact person at the respective hotel. For example, if you look on Fayetteville State’s alumni page, they have an arrangement with the Ramada Inn on Woodlawn where their people get rooms for as low as $112 a night, if they use the code “FSA” when reserving. By contrast, if you try to book a room without that code during CIAA week, the lowest rate starts at $139 a night.
The point I’m making, is that if you just randomly contact a hotel and request a room, you will get gouged. But if you do some searching around on the internet (next year) you may be able to stumble across a particular schools method for getting a room. Some people might think this isn’t fair, but hey, this is an event primarily for people affiliated with the participating schools.
Now, as a side note, in general I have heard that rates have gone up on the rooms since the first year, even with the discounts. But I’d say that has more to do with the scarcity of rooms in Charlotte now (the closing of some hotels coupled with the growth of the tournament), and the overall increase in prices of “everything in life” over the past 3 years. Bottom line, I think its necessary for people reading your blog to not jump to the conclusion that the CIAA attendees are somehow being discriminated against versus the ACC attendees. As you said in another blog, ACC attendees will most definitely leave once their teams lose, versus CIAA’er’s who stay the whole week. Again, its no different than the way hotel prices jump for an event like the Super Bowl. It is a testament to the strength of the league and the event as a whole.
I also work "in the industry" and concur with the previous poster; we are dealing with simple economics. The closer the occupancy rate creeps toward 100%, the higher the rates will be. Additionally, hotels use this information in deciding the prices they will release rooms to resellers (e.g. Expedia or Priceline). As is the case with airlines, most hotels today use sophisticated software to manage revenue. In the case of the CIAA , the individual schools negotiate large blocks of rooms which the schools in turn re-sell to their students, alumni, etc. This results in less retail room availability for the general public. In the case of the ACC, less inventory is purchased in large blocks by schools, leaving more retail inventory left to be sold; the likely consequence of this is lower rates.
You might want to check the dates you're comparing, the ACC tournament is the week after what you checked according to the ACC site http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/acc-m-baskbl-body.html
If it's changed please let me know, I've got 50 men to feed.
Please check your dates, the ACC tournament starts March 13th.
I live in charlotte and I have a house that I rent out normally but will be using to house tournament watchers, I still have room left. If more people would come up with alternative living arangements for each others maybe hotels would lower their prices based on the new competition.
919-491-5566
I think it riduculous that the hotels are price taking advantage of the Patrons of CIAA. I am quite happy that it is going back to Raleigh. Not all of the businesses in Charlotte embraced CIAA in the beginning but when the relized what type of money these professional hard working educated bring
I'm glad it's going back to Raleigh also. I'm a server at one of the restaurants downtown. During CIAA I actually lose money. Most of the servers I work with want to take that week off. We fight more for that week off than for Christmas.
Should try using the link for area hotels on the CIAA tournament website. Found some rates there were even lower than going thru AAA. Also very doubtful that its going back to Raleigh anytime before 2012, per the Triangle Tribune.
I found hotel rates in Charlotte for the CIAA tourmnament were lower when booked from the Tourmnament website than even going thru AAA. Now that's a deal.
This may be the most uneducated blog discussion I have ever read. Anyone wondering about hotel rooms and prices going up at certain times, please refer to first grade economics and the supply and demand theory. The person who wrote the first blog entry may be mildly retarded?
Living in the High Point area, the High Point furniture market which is a semi-annual event has seen its share of complaints of furniture attendees complaining about the price gouging of local hotels and restaurants. The perception is that people come into town to spend money and why not make a little extra on them. Like was said, supply and demand. It is what the market bears. But High Point officials have been forced to take a hard look at how out-of-towners are being treated and are encouraging more customer friendly trends such as free or reduced parking, shuttle buses and free food and concerts. This has been more apparent since Las Vegas now has a furniture market as well and has drawn customers there.
One quick comment that the person made about restaurant servers wanting off the week of the CIAA tournament... That sadly is true of many other cities. Businesses embrace the influx of people and the money they bring but for many servers in restaurants they end up losing money. The main reasons I have heard are that black patrons do not tip or tip very little and that they are rude and can be difficult to please. If I have stepped on any toes, I apologize but that is the perception from several restaurant employees that I have encountered. Any thoughts?
Please email the CIAA commissioner concerning the hotel prices. If he receives enough emails he will check into this matter and consider what cities will welcome the CIAA with open arms in 2012. I contacted the Holiday Inn and room rates are $446 a night as of Friday, Feb 22. Our dollars are not respected the same in the Queen City.
Of course rates go up during CIAA and it has nothing to do with "respecting a dollar" or race. I live near Lowe's Motor Speedway where a hotel room during race week is $300-$500 per night - normally this room might be 80-120 nightly. And....I'm glad it's staying in Charlotte!
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