World Pride packs out Madrid’s hotels

PRICES soar as an estimated two million visitors attempt to secure hotel rooms for World Pride, hosted in Madrid between June 23 and July 2.

Labour unions have predicted that every hotel room in the capital will be taken for the event. The City Hall has stated that there are only 83,300 hotel rooms in the city, meaning the majority of visitors will have to make alternative arrangements for their stay.

“Finding accommodation in the centre during gay pride week has been impossible for months,” said Yago Blando, organiser of Madrid-based LGBT society Arcopoli. “A lot of people have had to turn to friends to help them out,” he added.

One attendee, Mario Anton from Granada, stated “I began looking for places with friends three months ago. We couldn’t agree on the location or price, which slowed things down. Now everything has been taken.”

Jose Bueno, an owner of a hotel in the thriving gay community of Chueca, declared “anybody looking for a room now isn’t going to find anything, and if they did, it would be very expensive, more than €300 a night.”

With hotels bursting at the seams, travellers are turning to alternatives such as Airbnb with prices starting from approximately €50 per night. However, according to Airbnb’s website, only eight per cent of the 300 rooms are still available.

“If you don’t have a reservation by now, you’re better off going to the Caribbean,” said Bueno. 

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