Jean-Philippe and his four friends from Montpellier will experience this 2023 Rugby World Cup from the inside, but not necessarily as they had planned. It has now been two years since they bought their tickets for England – Argentina, Saturday evening (9 p.m.), and for South Africa – Scotland, Sunday (5.45 p.m.), the first two matches of the competition at the Stade Vélodrome, in Marseille. But faced with the exorbitant hotel prices, they are going to spend Saturday night at the campsite!
“It’s true that we did it a bit at the last minute, about a fortnight ago. A friend had given me the address of a hotel whose room for one night is normally around 100 euros, except that for Friday night the night was 450 euros, and the hotel is full on Saturday night. We inquired at other addresses and it’s the same everywhere, the prices are often multiplied by three,” notes Jean-Philippe.
Faced with this situation, the four friends therefore retreated to the campsite, where they are charged 30 euros for the night, for four. Very, very far from hotel prices. “We suspected that it would be more expensive, but not in these proportions. Afterwards, it’s supply and demand and the English have the means, so the hoteliers have given up,” says this rugby fan.
AirBnb rather than hotel
Since mid-week, the Old Port has actually been populated with supporters of the XV de la Rose. After spending a first night at the hotel, James, Hugo, Mike and Abby got away with 320 euros for two rooms. But for the rest of their stay, they opted for an AirBnb, “much cheaper”. For their remaining three nights, they will pay 500 euros for seven.
Paul, Natasha and their three children went much further in advance than Jean-Philippe and his friends to find hotel rooms. But a year ago, the observation was already the same. “At the Holiday Inn [un hôtel plutôt bon marché], it was more than 100 euros per person per night, for a total of 3,500 euros per week. So we gave up and switched to an AirBnb, which we paid 1,400 euros for the whole week,” they explain.
With the nearly 500,000 supporters expected in Marseille until October 15, the date of the last match of the competition in the Marseille city, hotel prices have soared. They are up by 38% over the entire competition to reach +95 to +98% on the evenings of the quarter-finals, according to data from Likibu.com, a holiday rental comparator.
“Some people do just about anything”
Huge increases of which the Marseille Tourist Office is fully aware, which however does not have control over the prices set by hoteliers. And the occupancy rate for September 9 and 10 is close to 100%. “It’s true that some people do just about anything,” says Laurent Lhardit, deputy president. There are two categories, those who have reasonably increased their prices, and those who have not. This poses a problem, because, generally, during this period tourists come looking for reasonable prices. Which is not at all the case currently. But what people spend more on hotels will mean less revenue for other activities like catering.”
Special operations have even been set up by certain agencies in order to offer both tickets for the matches and a night on a ferry chartered especially for the occasion. “A great commercial operation but not necessarily necessary in terms of the need for capacity”, denounces Laurent Lhardit, who is pleased, “for once”, to see that AirBnb has facilitated the reception of foreign supporters.
But these increases are not unique to Marseille, even if the city is among those where hotel prices jump the most. In this little game, it is even Saint-Etienne who wins the prize for the greatest increase on average with +41% over the duration of the competition, again according to Likibu.com.