Curling abounds however...
Posted on 02/04/2005 12:18:38 PM PST by srm913
Bowl runneth over with Super greed $59 hotel room's $259 a night now
DAVE PERKINS
JACKSONVILLE—There are 63 classified advertisements in the local bugle here seeking to buy Super Bowl tickets, including one that reads: "Feb. 10 is my husband's 50th birthday. Can you help make me the wife of the year?''
A call to the number brings a machine taking messages for one Mary Anne and whether or not she gets the tix is going to depend on one thing only: Does Mary Anne have the dough?
Welcome to the event that is the flagship cultural holiday for expense-account U.S.A. Money makes the Super Bowl go. Big money. Deeply gouged money, most of it.
The locals here seem no more adept at shaking down the visiting suckers than any other host city in recent memory. They're certainly no worse at it, either.
Those same classifieds contain a handful of ticket-selling ads, each with a simple detour around state ticket scalping ordinances. They offer tickets, plus other goodies, for plenty. Try six game tickets, plus three nights at a three-bedroom beach condo a half-hour from the stadium for $25,000 (all figures U.S.). Game tickets are either $500 or $600 face value, so figure what someone wants for three nights in that condo. Yowsa.
Earlier in the week, an ad offered two tickets and two rounds of golf on nearby Amelia Island, a swank playground, for $5,000. Other ads offer parking for RVs within walking distance of the stadium at $250 a day. Another wants $150 a day for your RV — but it's six kilometres away.
Almost every real estate ad puts prices around $1,000 a night for a rental condo. There's talk of a mobile home — certainly not unknown here — for $700 a night. Hope it's a double-wide.
The vast majority of rentals will go unrented. Big events attract high rollers and no one need feel sorry for anyone, least of all them. But these bun-throws bring out the greed in people, no question.
Happily, as in things like Olympic Games, most people end up absolutely empty. In Atlanta, for instance, fewer than 9 per cent of rental properties actually were rented out. These people who think they'll turn a quick $50,000 profit for a month tend to get bupkis.
A Toronto native named Jeffrey Alter, who now lives in New Orleans, emails that he has been attending Super Bowls for the better part of 20 years, but has never run into the kind of price gouging going on this week.
He said he made a reservation weeks ago at a local high-end spot, only to be called this week and asked for his fax number, because the beanery needed to fax him a contract. A contract? Yes, agreeing that every member of his party would spend at least $175 on dinner. Plus a credit card number to guarantee it.
Similar stuff is everywhere here. A handful of Canadian reporters hit a beachfront restaurant, familiar from Players Championships past, and had a wonderful dinner. It was difficult to obtain a reservation, yet when they showed up the place was nearly empty and stayed that way.
As of last night, prices were to roughly double and the menu was to shrink.
Parties of both Patriots and Eagles players had been in Sunday and Monday and, anticipating a lot of walk-in traffic, the place wasn't taking many reservations. When the weather turned bad — it has been nothing but — there went the walk-ins.
"We told (management), this is the Super Bowl. Let's have some fun and not try to pluck out our customer's eyeballs,'' said a friendly waiter, who said staff was "ready to take our own lives'' at the missed economic opportunities. "We thought this was going to be our week to make some money,'' he said.
The hoteliers are making it, at least. Jacksonville is a small city — too small to hold a Super Bowl, probably — and there aren't nearly enough available rooms.
Smart folks brought in five luxury cruise ships, charging hundreds of dollars per broom closet per night. Other hotels are juicing the rates unconscionably. One Canadian reporter, staying in a $59-a-night chain hotel, is paying $259 a night this week.
It's like the Masters, U.S. Open or any big event.
Watching the greedy grab for the out-of-town bucks is part of the action, but a city can't complain when it gets bad press for the hold-up.
What a load of crap. Anytime there's an event in any city, prices skyrocket.
A hotel in my town is 75 bucks on a normal night, but if nascar is in town it doubles. Just a fact of life.
They're just jealous because there's no hockey.
Canada is just pissed there is no hockey this year. And even if there was, the Stanley Cup Finals would be played in AMERICA!
The NFL dictates what a city has to offer in order to host a Super Bowl. Apparently, Jacksonville meets the requirement, so be a quiet Canuck and watch your hockey!
Yeah, so? If you don't want to pay, don't go! From what I've read Jacksonville isn't exactly a big hotel town.
short supply + big demand = raised prices. .....an equation socialists (like this Canuck) seem unable to comprehend.
Their mad 'cause they give most of their money to their government, so they can't afford to even WATCH the Super Bowl, much less attend!
My middle finger ist extended toward this dumba$$ Canandian.
I doubt a canadian hotel would double their prices for the 20 or 30 people who go to watch the gray cup.
What the heck is a "bun-throw"? Must be a Canadian thing...
What a pitiful, socialist windbag. Another ace on the Toronto Star staff.
Curling abounds however...
Canada's just p.o.'d because they can't do the same kind of price-gouging at their Lumberjack competitions.
Then go chase yer round ball, hosers, eh?
Yet, they still have the exciting sport of CURLING.
Dang! Ya beat me to it.
Grasshopper, you must be quick...
LOL, great minds....
The Canuckistanis are just upset that that hockey thing got cancelled and no one seems to notice or care...
Apparently our Canadian friend isn't aware of basic economics. Scarcity causes prices to rise. There are basicaly a fixed number of hotel rooms in the area. So when demand is high the number of rooms can't increase, but the cost of those rooms can and will rise to an equilibrium level with what the market will bear. If there were a shortage of malt vinegar Canadians would have to pay more to season their fish and chips..it's the same basic principle.
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