Hotels and other accommodation providers in Auckland have just persuaded the city's mayor to relent a little on his plan to tax them for the benefits of major events, arguing they are not the major beneficiaries. Any public support they won for that view will be sorely tested by signs of gross price gouging of rugby fans coming to Auckland and Wellington for the All Blacks' tests against the touring Lions.
The room rates we are reporting today are outrageous. One Wellington motel that normally charges $135 a night is asking $1000 a night on the weekend of the second test. An Auckland central apartment is asking $1125, four times its usual rate. Airbnbs are at similar rates for the test weekends and even private homes near Eden Park are being offered at $1000 a night or more.
They may be just testing the market, the tour is still two months away, plenty of time to lower their rates if the market will not wear them. But visitors from afar will have bought their seats by now and they are not in a strong position to bargain if they need paid accommodation. Auckland, privileged to host two of the three Lions tests, will be doing its reputation no good with opportunistic profiteering on this scale.
According to online booking sites, only 5 per cent of hotel rooms in Auckland and Wellington are still available for the tests, which suggests visitors are gritting their teeth and paying out. Suddenly a bed tax does not look so cruel.
