Yekaterinburg experiences shortage of cheap hotel rooms

Hermitage Hotel (aka L’ermitage) hosted a meeting of a committee for facilitating foreign and Russian travelers’ visits to Sverdlovsk Region. One of the points on the agenda was devoted to acute shortage of cheap hotel rooms.

A room classed as a cheap A-class one must cost between 500 RUR and 1,000 RUR; in the meantime, it will cost you $140 on average to book a hotel room in Yekaterinburg, Deputy Mayor Viktor Konteev’s press officer Oleg Zemtsov says.

82% of travelers arriving in Yekaterinburg fall into the ‘business class‘ category, which is one of the reasons why local investors are reluctant to build cheap hotels in the city. Two hotels with prospective prices of 1,500 RUR for a cheapest room are currently under construction; nine hotels fit for 690 people are expected to be finished before the end of year.

65% of Yekaterinburg’s hotels were used in 2006. The city offers its guests 44 hotels, two camping sites, and 24 other accommodation facilities altogether.