Cricket World Cup: ‘Sold Out’ Rooms, Tripling of Rates as Hotels in Lucknow Charge Up to Rs 40,000 on Match Days

When visiting Lucknow in October or November, if you have any plans, be prepared for a housing issue. The capital of Uttar Pradesh will host a number of matches during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, and as a result, hotel rooms are either completely booked or have treble in price, especially on important match days.

Hoteliers are doing well despite the fact that this has made things worse for tourists. “Yes, the city is prepared to host the World Cup after hosting the IPL (Indian Premier League). The performance is set to go. Back-to-back huge events would boost the hospitality sector and create indirect jobs, both of which are beneficial to the state of Uttar Pradesh’s economy, according to hotelier Sarvesh Goyal.

The first match between Australia and South Africa will take place at Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium on October 12. There will also be matches between Australia and Sri Lanka on October 16, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka on October 21, India and England on October 29, and the Netherlands and Afghanistan on November 3. On the other hand, the match between India and England on October 29 is anticipated to draw the largest crowd.

Luxury hotels in Lucknow typically charge between Rs 5,000 and Rs 11,000 per day. However, hotels have raised their rates to Rs 40,000 per day on game days. On the Gomti River’s banks, one of the five-star hotels has raised its daily rate from Rs 11,000 to Rs 40,000 for the two days of October 25 and 26.

Similar to this, a fifth-star establishment on the Lucknow-Kanpur route raised its rates to Rs 79,000, while a luxury hotel in the Mall Avenue neighborhood posted a “sold out” sign for the major match days. Other respectable hotels are experiencing similar problems, and this is still the case as of November 3.

However, other hotels defended the rate increase by claiming that the state capital is now seeing a boom in their sector for the first time since Covid. “Surge pricing is the most recent fashion. Nowadays, we use it for everything, whether we’re ordering takeout, buying a flight, or renting a car. So why should the hotel sector lag behind? I believe that the hotel business is flourishing for the first time since Covid, and I hold the view that everyone has a right to earn money. A hotelier said that the price increase was reasonable.