It’s been almost impossible to get a hotel room in Oslo this week, and room rates have soared. Occupancy rates haven’t been so high since well before the Corona crisis began, and hotels can report a full house at least through June.
“I actually think we deserve to experience this now,” André Schreiner at the large Clarion Hotel The Hub told newspaper Aftenposten on this week, after all the closures and losses caused by Corona. Only two of his hotel’s 810 rooms were available on Wednesday evening, and even standard double rooms were priced at NOK 7,000 (USD 729) per night at three-star hotels.
Schreiner attributed the rush to a sharp increase in business travel, pleasure travel, seminars and courses before the summer holidays set in later this month. There were also some major concerts in Oslo, the new National Museum was due to finally open this weekend and the men’s national football team had big matches, drawing more than 20,000 fans to Ullevaal Stadium both on Thursday and Sunday.
Hotels were also full in smaller cities surrounding Oslo, including Drammen, Lillstrøm and the airport area around Gardermoen. Room rates haven’t only risen because of demand but the hotel owners’ need to cover the costs of steep increases in electricity and food prices.
newsinenglish.no staff
