Super Bowl Hotels Up as Much as 550 Percent
When a N.J. Renaissance hotel charges $1k, things have gotten out of control.
Jan. 22, 2014— -- When a New Jersey Renaissance hotel charges almost $1,000 per night, things have gotten out of control.
On the other hand, supply and demand, right? The National Football League estimates 400,000 people will descend on northern New Jersey during Super Bowl XLVIII.
That anticipated influx has hotel and rental home prices skyrocketing. There's a home in North Caldwell, N.J. listed on HomeAway.com for 120k per week around game day. It has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and comes with a private chef and daily maid service. Luckily it does have 10 flat-screen TVs, because tickets to the game are not included in the 120k price tag.
READ: 4 Crazy Expensive Super Bowl Packages
And then there's the Renaissance Meadowlands Hotel in Rutherford, N.J., about two miles from the stadium. The hotels' web site quoted a price of $989 per night on Feb. 1 and 2 for a room with one king or two queen beds when ABC News ran a price check on Tuesday. It does come with a TV and a hair dryer though. That same room goes for just $152 per night the following weekend. Markup: 550 percent.
HomeAway.com told ABC News rates on rental homes in the vicinity of Izod Center are averaging $1,568 per night -- 242 percent higher than standard rates of $260 per night on average. Rates during last year's Super Bowl in host city New Orleans were $1,200 per night. Hotel rates near the stadium, according to Orbitz, are averaging $342 per night from jan. 30 - Feb 3. That's a 155 percent increase from the $159 price tag the weekend prior.
Even so, Orbitz said, there's only a "handful" of rooms available.
And perhaps for the first time in history, a hotel room in New York City is looking like a relative bargain. According to TripAdvisor, a hotel room in Manhattan Feb. 1 - 2 can expect to pay $418 per night, $35 less than what a hotel room in Secaucus, N.J. is going for on the same nights.