Bilbao: I am sickened by £4k a night hotel prices in the Spanish city during Europa League final - the only cheap bet is to stay in a dorm
I decided to look on Booking.com how much it is to stay in a hotel in Bilbao on the night of the Europa League final.
I have seen on social media many people complaining about the extortionate prices - so I wanted to see for myself how bad it was. I selected Bilbao city centre on Booking.com for a stay on Wednesday 21 May to Thursday 22 May, and I was sickened at the results.
All of the hotels in the city centre were over £1,000. One was even £4,000. The cheapest bet was ones under £500, still in the city centre, but they are dormitories. So you will still be spending hundreds of pounds just to share a room with random people. The prices of hotels in Bilbao sky-rocketing like this, just because it is the night of the Europa League final, is appalling.
Fleecing football fans and making a huge profit from the event. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why the hotels do it of course, but it doesn’t mean that it is not awful. To charge someone over £4,000 to stay in a hotel room in Bilbao for a night is incredulous.
In fact, the hotel that is charging £4,000 for a stay tonight (Wednesday 21 May), called Somera, is actually £227 a night on 3 to 4 June. And even looking at hotel prices in Bilbao for next week, they are all at least under £300.
It is really awful, and hotels should be ashamed of charging thousands of pounds more than they normally would. One Manchester United fan posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was sleeping on a park bench in Bilbao last night (Tuesday 20 May) because of the hotel prices.
He wrote: “Am pretty skint, but couldn’t help myself and try get here. Booked 10 days ago. £220 for travel here and back via different flights, trains and buses. Wasn’t paying silly hotel prices.” The fact that fans are having to resort to this is terrible.
Of course, prices of hotels might not have been thousands of pounds when it was first announced that it would be a Spurs vs Man United final in Bilbao. However, they certainly would have been that expensive for a while - as to why fans such as this Manchester United one were forced to sleep on a bench.
It’s appalling. But, if you’re in Bilbao, forked out the cash and the crazy travel plan then enjoy yourselves, the atmosphere and memories!