Some of the biggest hotel chains in the Welsh capital have bumped up their prices for the night before the new King makes his first visit to Wales on Friday.
People hoping to catch a glimpse of the The King and Queen Consort in Cardiff could see city centre hotel costs jump by up to 80% for the Thursday night compared to the Friday night. And when compared to the Thursday night on September 22, a week after the King's visit, hotel costs are more than half what they will be this week.
Thursday is a big day in the capital - not only is the King visiting but Liam Gallagher is performing too. This event is likely to affect room prices too.
The big names - including Travelodge, Mercure, Ibis and Radisson - have all taken advantage of a flurry of demand for hotel rooms as people are set to travel from far and wide to mark the occasion. You can leave your tribute to the Queen here.
Read more: How Llandaff is preparing to become the first place in Wales the new King will visit
Travelodge Cardiff Central prices for a double room were £209 for Thursday, September 15, but priced at £129 for Friday, September 16. However, rooms were fully booked by Wednesday afternoon with the nearest Travelodge room available at the Atlantic Wharf hotel advertised at £229.99. Just one day later, on Friday night, prices for the same room at that same hotel are being advertised for £76.99.
A spokesman for Travelodge said its mission is to "always offer the most competitive price within the marketplace". They added: "We do this by daily checking all UK, which includes Wales, hotel room prices and competitively pricing our rates to ensure we are offering the best value to consumers. As we operate in a demand led industry, we are confident that we are offering consumers the best value prices for a branded hotel chain within the area."
Searching hotel availability mid-afternoon on Wednesday showed other big names had followed suit. The Mercure Holland House hotel on Newport Road was advertising a double room for £265 for the Thursday night and £232 for the Friday night. A week later, that same room was available for £111 on Thursday, September 22 - that's a price hike of 140% for this Thursday.
The Ibis budget hotel in Cardiff's city centre was offering a room priced at £197 for the Thursday night and £109 for the Friday - that's a jump of 80%. The following Thursday night, a week after the Royal visit, the same room was priced at £72. But a spokesman for the hotel said guidelines within the group had very "firmly" directed Ibis to keep room rates within the normal range at this time. They added: "Due to a Liam Gallagher concert taking place at Cardiff Bay on Thursday 15th, Cardiff is extremely busy on this evening and the city is therefore seeing high rates across all its hotels, including significantly higher rates amongst our competitor set. Comparable rates are regularly seen around other major events in the city such as the rugby Autumn Internationals."
The Hilton Cardiff, on Kingsway, is offering a King junior suite from £379 for the Thursday and £255 for the Friday. That's a hefty hike of nearly 50%. Adam Smith, general manager for Hilton Cardiff, said: "We have kept our rates fair and in line with our usual prices during periods of high demand - the suite highlighted is the same price as in a couple of weeks’ time. Because of the busy period our cheaper rooms have sold out, meaning we now only have junior suites on our site."
And the Park Plaza hotel, a four-star hotel in the heart of Cardiff, is offering rooms at £309 for Thursday, September 15. Compare this to £209 for the night of September 16 and £199 for a week later on September 22, Radisson have upped prices by more than £100.
Both King Charles and the Queen Consort will be attending a number of engagements in Cardiff on September 16. There will be a number of road closures in Cardiff this week in preparation for arrival of King Charles. You can find out where these will be here.
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