U2 shows are music to hoteliers' ears

U2 fans can expect to pay top dollar for a night in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

Some hotels are charging three times their normal rate for rooms during this week's U2 concerts.

Auckland's Hotel Grand Chancellor is advertising a two-bedroom apartment for this Thursday night when the first of two concerts will occur for $999 - up from the usual rate of $309.

A staff member said yesterday that the $999 was being charged because room rates always increased when large events were on. The same had happened for the Metallica concert last month.

Hotels were booked out around the city and any that had rooms left could increase their prices and concert-goers would pay, he said.

At Auckland's Crowne Plaza, the cheapest room available yesterday was $359 - double the hotel's normal rate of about $171.

However, when questioned about whether the room was the same as the room advertised a week later on cut-price accommodation website wotif.com for $171, the staff member said he could do a rate of $152 if the bill was paid on the spot.

At the Duxton Hotel, the wotif.com rate sold out yesterday, but a spa room was available for $269 - up from the usual rate of $189.

The staff member said "on high- demand days the rates go up and the U2 dates, they definitely go up ... the whole supply-demand thing".

The news comes on the back of revelations that the Novotel Hotel in Christchurch is charging $2400 per night - more than 14 times its usual rate of about $170 - for standard rooms during the Rugby World Cup Quarter finals next year.

Those in the hotel industry say they always increase their rates in times of high demand and the price hikes are simply the laws of supply and demand at play.

Consumer New Zealand deputy chief executive David Naulls said the price hikes were not breaking any rules.

"It's not against the law," he said.

"They can charge what they like. Maybe people have to stay somewhere further out ... if you're local you'll seek out to stay with friends or relatives, wouldn't you?

"It's just supply and demand because there's a big event and people will be coming from out of town.

"The only way that people can stop people putting them up outrageously is not to pay ... vote with your feet. That would have some effect on the market eventually."

Mr Naulls said the fact that Novotel was charging more than 14 times its usual rate for rooms during the Rugby World Cup "doesn't reflect well on the hotel or accommodation industry".

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said price rises at busy times were "entirely normal" and if rooms were over-priced, hotels would have empty rooms because people wouldn't pay.

"The market does actually work," he said.