Football fans travelling to Russia for the World Cup this summer are reportedly being asked to pay up to 5,400% more than the standard price to book a hotel.
A room at the zero-star Agora hotel in Kaliningrad, where England will play Belgium on June 28, has been advertised at 129,200 roubles, the equivalent of £1,600, rather than the government-set price of about £30.
The figures emerged from a blacklist published by Russia’s federal tourism agency reported today by The Times.
Basic mini-apartments let by Oranzhevy Dom are on offer in the city for £561, a 1,170% increase on the set price.
In Rostov-on-Don, the southern city where Brazil will play Switzerland on June 17, the Tikhiye Sady hotel is offering luxury apartments for £1,462, or 27 times the norm.
Forty-one other hotels in six host regions were named as advertising between 9% and 817% more than was legal.
The Times reported Svetlana Ovchinnikova, of the Agora hotel, telling Russian media that a booking website had mistakenly inflated the price.
“Ours is a zero-star hotel,” she said. “The walk-in price for a luxury room is £44 until the end of the year.”
Tourism agency head Oleg Safonov had said that the list was designed to make the overcharging hotels consider their reputation.
This week he said he would refer it to Rospotrebnadzor, the federal consumer protection service, which can fine hotels twice the excess amount charged.
Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered in 2016 that the price of rooms in host cities should be regulated by the state, with maximum prices set in bands according to the services offered.