Reality ends some Qatari dreams of World Cup rental bonanza - Reuters

DOHA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Qatar has recovered itself with an unexpected glut of rooms successful the World Cup's engaged radical stage, with online portals showing rooms successful astatine slightest 42 hotels and Airbnb offering hundreds of options for this weekend.

That's a acold outcry from pre-tournament warnings by Qatari officials, including Qatar Airways' CEO, and instrumentality groups specified arsenic Football Supporters Europe of a shortage, which prompted organisers to put other accommodation successful villas, apartments, cruise ships, impermanent cabins and adjacent godforsaken camps.

Doha landlords had anticipated a bonanza from 1.2 cardinal visiting fans, with numbers forecast to highest Nov. 24-28, but the surplus has caused rents to slump and volition person knock-on effects for the wider spot market, immoderate existent property agents said.

Two existent property agents, 2 accommodation firms and tenants accidental immoderate landlords successful the tiny Gulf authorities sought unrealistically precocious rents successful the pb up to the event, which has near thousands of rooms vacant.

Many fans person chosen to enactment extracurricular Doha and jet successful for matches, utilizing up to 500 regular shuttle flights from adjacent cities similar tourer hub Dubai that Qatar Airways' main said were laid connected partially successful effect to what helium called "a shortage of accommodation".

"We were successful interaction with fractional of the city, each the large existent property companies ... They weren't interested," said 1 accommodation broker who has worked astatine respective planetary sports events and requested anonymity owed to concern sensitivities.

The broker cited the illustration of a two-bedroom Doha flat that was listed astatine $1,200 per nighttime successful aboriginal October. A week earlier the World Cup began connected Nov. 20, the complaint was $250 a night, the broker said.

Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is the tourney organiser, did not respond to Reuters petition for updated availability of rooms oregon wherefore the anticipated shortage of lodgings did not materialise.

Organisers accidental a scope of accommodation is connected offer, from $80 per nighttime rooms connected Doha's godforsaken edges to luxury cruise vessel cabins, immoderate costing thousands of dollars a day.

For the remaining highest nights, the authoritative accommodation portal connected Friday showed rooms disposable successful 42 hotels, villas and apartments, portion booking.com showed rooms successful 73 properties and Airbnb.com offered 503 "homes".

Eleven days earlier kick-off, organisers had said determination were astatine slightest 25,000 rooms disposable for every nighttime of the World Cup.

PRICE HIKES

In a motion of however the pre-tournament concerns raised expectations among immoderate hoteliers and landlords, Reuters has been told of 4 instances of precocious terms hikes.

One radical of 10 guests who arrived successful Qatar from Italy a week earlier the World Cup started were caught successful a enactment betwixt their edifice and question steadfast implicit a surcharge, their cause said.

Khaya Global told Reuters that successful the 2 weeks earlier the World Cup it received demands from each of the 7 hotels it has nether exclusive declaration for payments totalling astatine slightest $550,000, connected apical of what it said was much than $10 cardinal it had pre-paid. Reuters has seen invoices for $550,000.

Reuters has not seen the archetypal declaration successful full, but has reviewed a transcript of a hand-written invoice for $40,000 which Khaya brag Volkhard Bauer said was from the Al Mansour Park Inn. Neither the edifice nor its proprietor responded to a Reuters petition to corroborate the invoice.

"Never ever, astatine nary World Cup, person I heard thing similar this," said Bauer of the last-minute charges. His Khaya bureau has block-booked accommodation and sold rooms to fans, FIFA sponsors and different officials astatine 3 erstwhile World Cups.

Bauer's weary guests were yet checked successful aft the bureau wired the magnitude demanded, helium told Reuters.

Another hotel, the Waterfront Hotel and Apartments, sent an invoice for $53,700, seen by Reuters, for guests to person other beds successful 9 rooms during the tournament, a surcharge summation from an agreed $90 to $250 per night.

Neither edifice nor the proprietor of some responded to repeated Reuters requests for comment.

EMPTY PEARL

It's not lone overseas visitors who person seen costs soar.

While immoderate landlords slashed prices arsenic the tourney neared, galore were inactive trying to unafraid short-term concern astatine overmuch higher rates, crowding retired residents, the accommodation broker and existent property agents said.

Long-term rents successful Qatar roseate by much than 30% successful the 3rd quarter, with immoderate landlords demanding imaginable tenants motion two-year leases locking them into existent prices, a Sept. 30 study by existent property services steadfast Cushman and Wakefield said.

Reuters spoke to semipermanent residents astatine 5 Doha flat buildings and 2 lodging compounds who said landlords had successful the months earlier the tourney refused to renew yearly contracts and hiked rents.

At The Pearl, a high-end residential neighbourhood built connected a man-made island, a 30-year-old Tunisian pistillate whose lease expired successful October said that her flat proprietor had told her helium would lone renew it erstwhile the World Cup ended.

He made that conditional connected her leaving down her furnishings truthful helium could rent the flat retired arsenic a furnished unit, said the woman, who declined to beryllium named oregon to place her landlord.

"I recovered myself fundamentally forced to accidental yes to his offer," she said, adding she was wary of committing to costly semipermanent rates.

But she inactive needed to rent a impermanent flat arsenic her shot instrumentality brothers had bought tickets for the tournament.

Reporting and penning by Andrew Mills; Editing by Dominic Evans, Ghaida Ghantous and Alexander Smith

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.