Who needs to save for a down payment when you could, instead, stay three nights at a three-star hotel in the heart of San Francisco — breakfast not included.
Airbnb and hotel bookings in the San Francisco Bay Area are truly, utterly insane at the moment. NFL Media Week is in full swing, and tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of football fans are flooding into the regions ahead of Sunday’s 60th Super Bowl.
Business is booming. Utterances of “San Fran” by visitors are at nauseating highs. Foot traffic is, indeed, stomping. And, predictably, Airbnb hosts and major hotel companies — particularly the latter — are taking advantage of the demand, price gouging in deep and visceral and gross ways.
KTVU and NBC Bay Area have covered the economic boom echoing ahead of the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots Super Bowl showdown Sunday; NBC Bay Area reported visitors are spending some $250 a day … without including lodging costs; SFist describes the “Dreamforce-week price ranges” currently affecting hotel bookings, specifically in downtown San Francisco where three-night bookings for budget hotels could put you back over $1,500.
These are dark, expensive, sporty times. And no relevant hotel booking encapsulates this notion more than a $20,000-per-night stay on Vrbo for a deluxe one-bedroom suite at SF’s Wyndham Canterbury. For those who need help with some napkin math: The typical three-night stay (Friday morning through Monday morning/afternoon) for Super Bowl weekend costs an eye-watering $60,124.
But all the fees are included! And, no … breakfast is not included with that booking, which costs nearly as much as a brand-new Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The “deluxe” room inside the three-star hotel is nothing special, mind you. The over 500-square-foot abode features a television and kitchen equipment pulled from the early 2000s — an aesthetic matched by the like-era furniture, all of which is punctuated by *choice* red accents.
Red color schemes are naturally associated with anger, rage, and frustration. We’d imagine if you spent a modest mortgage down payment on a three-night stay at a hotel with budget television hanging above an IKEA dresser, you’d be seeing red, too.
Dynamic pricing really will be the end of us.
Feature image: Courtesy of Vrbo
