Euro 2016: late-booking fans face hotel rates only a footballer could afford

WITH #Euro2016 kicking off on Friday 10 June, British fans looking to get their hands on a last-minute ticket could be paying through the roof for a room, as local hotels hike prices by up to 165%.

According to research by travel money specialists No.1 Currency, hotel rooms are now few and far between for most of the games in the group stages of Euro 2016, that involve England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Those rooms that are still available are being sold at highly inflated prices.

Wales’ opener against Slovakia on June 11 will be their first match in a major championship in nearly 60 years. Welsh fans hoping to pick up a last-minute ticket for the match will have to pay on average £153 for a 3-star hotel on the day of the match. That’s a 135% hike on normal season rates.

In Marseille, where England play their first match against Russia on June 11, 94% of all hotel rooms are already booked. Of those 3-star hotels that still have availability, the average price for a double room on that day is £127. That compares with average 3-star rates of £74 a night for a typical Saturday stay in the summer in Marseille – a mark-up of 72%.

It’s the same in Lens, where England take on Wales in the crunch match of the group. Again, 94% of all hotel rooms have already been filled, and the last remaining 3-star hotels with availability have inflated their prices by an average of 125%. Expect to pay £176 a night – more than double the normal room rate of £85.

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

All your holiday needs: IN PRINT - ON-LINE - DiGiMAG - SMARTPHONE -TABLET - BLOG - TWITTER - G+ - FACEBOOK

Best value stag and hen destinations

HOTEL SEARCH website trivago.co.uk has studied hotel prices in ten popular stag and hen do destinations. 

For the analysis, trivago selected five stag destinations (Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Riga, Prague, and Budapest) and five hen destinations (London, Brighton, Dublin, Ibiza, and Marbella). Included in company's data is the average hotel price, the potential savings between the cheapest and most expensive months and the best month to visit each destination.

London is the most expensive destination, with an average hotel price of £179 per night. This is followed by Amsterdam, Marbella, Ibiza, and Edinburgh, with prices ranging from £124 to £127 per night. The cheapest destination is Riga, at just £62 per night. This is followed by Budapest and Prague, at £68 and £78 per night, respectively.

Ibiza and Marbella are summer destinations, where up to £143 per night can be saved by visiting in off-peak months. The same is true for Edinburgh, where a hotel costs £81 per night during January, but increases to £213 during the Edinburgh Festival in August.

Trivago recommends visiting Edinburgh in November to catch the beginning of the Christmas markets. Amsterdam is best visited in July, where hotel prices dip slightly between June and August. Riga is cheap year round, so can be visited in August, when other destinations are usually more expensive. Prague is also cheap year round, and has impressive Christmas market in December.

London can be expensive, so visit in April, before prices rise for the summer. Brighton, likewise, can be expensive in summer – visit in May when temperature begin to rise. Dublin is best visited in March for the St Patrick’s Day festivities. Ibiza is best visited in summer, but try to aim for June – before hotel prices rise steeply. Marbella is also very expensive in the summer, but in October prices are much lower and temperatures still mild.

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

All your holiday needs: IN PRINT - ON-LINE - DiGiMAG - SMARTPHONE -TABLET - BLOG - TWITTER - G+ - FACEBOOK

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28975765@N07/20071966691">Rīga</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)

Hotels ramp up prices on RWC match days

WITH only days to go until the 2015 #RugbyWorldCup (RWC) is hosted in England and Wales, hotel search website trivago.co.uk has analyzed hotel prices and availability in the host cities. 

A hotel stay on a match night will cost an average of £261 (184 percent above the average of £92 in 2014), with prices increasing for each match in each city.

The largest increase was found in Cardiff, where a hotel room on October 17 – the day of a Quarter Final at the Millennium Stadium – could cost £1,018.

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

All your holiday needs: IN PRINT - ON-LINE - DiGiMAG - SMARTPHONE -TABLET - BLOG - TWITTER - G+ - FACEBOOK

Price probe at Disneyland Paris

ALLEGATIONS that Disneyland Paris charges foreign tourists more than its French customers could lead to a European Commission investigation, the Financial Times (FT) reports. 

A commission assessment found that British customers could be paying up to 15% more for one-day tickets, the paper said. 

The FT added that for premium packages UK visitors to the park could be paying €1,870 (£1,327), compared with €1,346 (£955) for French ticketholders and €2,447 (£1,736) for Germans.

European Union rules prohibit price differences based on a customer’s country of residence.

Disneyland Paris said its promotions were based on school holiday periods in local markets, adding that basic packages without promotional discounts were the same across all states.
The EU assessed prices of other theme parks in Europe and did not find the same variation, according to the FT. 

Elzbieta Bienkowska, EU commissioner for the single market, said there had been a number of complaints which were ‘very significant, particularly in one or two instances’.

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

All your holiday needs: IN PRINT - ON-LINE - DiGiMAG - SMARTPHONE -TABLET - BLOG - TWITTER - G+ - FACEBOOK

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45131552@N08/4160067853">Central Plaza view from 1994 Disneyland Paris postcard book</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)