The Rio World Cup 2014 fever has begun and hotels are almost fully booked. Love hotels and spaces for rent in slum areas are picking up the slack as rooms skyrocket with only about six weeks to go before the opening ceremony.
Soccer fans who really want to attend the Rio World Cup 2014 will have to fork over at least $700 for a room. But that trend is only to be expected based on the previous World Cup events.
"Some hosts were charging four or five times their normal rate," German national Raphael Ruland told Reuters, adding that at one point, he almost didn't go because the prices of the rooms have skyrocketed.
However, the motels and Rio's famous slum area, locally known as the favela, have become a clear alternative. The love motels have already changed their accommodation packages from an average of 4-6 hours short stay to daily rates.
Although the Rio World Cup 2014 rates have also increased, from $23 to $138, they're not as stiff as the ones collected by hotels, the wire news agency added.
As Favela Experience owner Elliot Rosenberg explained, "I think a lot of people who wouldn't have considered this normally are considering it for the World Cup."
Embratur, the Brazilian tourist board, took note of the high prices of rooms and asked both the FIFA, which runs the Rio World Cup 2014, as well as the hotel owners to look into the "stratospheric" charges, The Guardian reported.
The publication added that the rates of room have increased by as much as 600%, with the average package for each room for the Rio World Cup 2014 in June was placed at $461.
The Rio World Cup 2014 is expected to draw 600,000 foreign tourists and over 75% will head to the former capital city of Brazil. That number will have to fight for just 21,639 hotel rooms, according to Reuters , citing data provided by the city's tourism agency.
