Hotel prices in D.C. up 927% ahead of Trump’s inauguration — and protests
Airbnb is also seeing 10 times the demand for rooms as it did in 2013
January 17, 2017 11:35 a.m. | by Kari Paul | MarketWatch
If you’re planning on attending the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, finding a place to spend the night could cause some damage to your bank account — even if you aren’t staying at the Trump International Hotel.
Prices of hotel rooms in Washington, D.C., are 927% higher than usual for the week of the ceremony, according travel website Trivago, at an average of $2,071 per night for a standard double room. Barring major events like Inauguration Day, the usual rate for a room of that type in the city tends to hover around $200 in January, at $215 in 2013, $204 in 2014, $186 in 2015, and $204 in 2016, according to Trivago.
Surrounding inauguration week, there is always an “uptick in hotel demand, regardless of the party that wins,” said Kristin Lamoureux, associate dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism at New York University.