Accommodations for Euro-2012: Where and for how much
With the forthcoming final of Euro-2012 the prices for accommodation in host-cities keep rising. According to experts’ forecast Ukraine will welcome about 800 thousand guests from different countries. ForUm has learned whether all comers can find “temporary shelter” and for how much.
Prices have risen first of all for hotel rooms. For example, 23% of Lviv hotels have increased prices by 200%, but the majority of rooms are booked anyway. The situation with increased prices raised concerns among Football association officials, but according to Markian Lubsivksi Ukrainian authorities have managed to stabilize the prices. The official also informed that the average prices for accommodations in Ukraine and Poland are practically the same.
According to Lubkivski, there are still available rooms in the country. For example, 17% of accommodations for fans in Lviv, 18% in Kharkiv, 16% in Donetsk and 27% in Kyiv are still available.
ForUm decided to check whether it is still possible to book a room and visited the recommended website (www.hotelsukraine.com.ua).
We searched for an available room in a 4-star hotel in central Lviv for June 9 – match between Germany and Portugal. As it turned out, as of May 7 we found only two single rooms, costing one thousand 680 hryvnais each. In another, 5-star hotel, 86 km far from Lviv we found ten available rooms at one thousand 838 hryvnais per person.
Looking for accommodations in Donetsk for June 15 – match between Ukraine and France, we could not find anything available in 4-star hotels, as well in a resort, 120 km far from Donetsk. The attempt to book a room in one of the state institute dormitories also failed.
Following the boom and the possibility to earn quick money ordinary citizens also increased prices for apartments for rent.
Real estate expert Alexiy Sorokin told ForUm that about 15-17% of landowners, who used to rent apartment for a long-term, now rent apartments daily. It is expected that prices for short-term apartments for rent in Kyiv will increase by two-three times in May-June. For example, if earlier one could rent a one-room apartment not far from center at 70-80 dollars per day, now will have to pay 200-250 dollars. If a three-room apartment costs now 100 dollars, in a month the price will jump up to 300-350 dollars per day.
“It is still possible to rent or book an apartment, but according to the forecast the apartments will be in short supply soon. That’s why owners force up prices. During the next weeks we can expect heavy growth of prices in host-cities, while in suburbs the price rise is not so obvious,” Sorokin said.
As an alternative to hotel and private accommodations, fans can stay in tent camps. Director of the Kyiv tourist information center Vyacheslav Myronenko told ForUm that the accommodation in a tent camp on Trukhanov Island will cost up to 20 euro per day.
In his turn, director of “Pleso” communal enterprise Pavlo Pokhodiy informed ForUm that the representative office of the Swedish national team fan association has acсepted the offer of the enterprise to establish a tent camp for Swedish fans on the Central beach of Trukhanov Island. The camp will accommodate 5-7 thousand people at 150-200 hryvnais per day. The camp will be equipped with toilets, shower cabins, cafes and a small security point.
There is also another option to find accommodation, which becomes more and more popular in the world – couchsurfing. Followers of this movement are social and welcoming people. They let people in to sleep on their couch free of charge and always help tourists. You can find such people visiting the website Couchsurfing. And though such traveling involves certain risks, for extreme lovers it is not an obstacle.
As they say, “seek and ye shall find.”