Hotel prices in Tel Aviv skyrocket for Eurovision week

Now that the location and date of next year's Eurovision are final, many international visitors are eager to book flights and hotels for the competition. Thousands of tourists are expected to fly in for the week of the show, and hotels in Tel Aviv are already gearing up for the influx of visitors - and jacking up the prices in accordance. According to Hotels.com, a week at the Dan Panorama in Tel Aviv during the competition, May 12-19, will cost NIS 9,248 — compared to NIS 7,154 a couple of weeks earlier. A week at the Prima Tel Aviv Hotel during the contest is currently going for NIS 9,213, while seven nights just a few weeks later will be only NIS 4,725. Trivago.com, another popular hotel booking site, shows a price of NIS 9,915 at the David Intercontinental in Tel Aviv for the week of the show, compared to just NIS 8,101 just a few weeks later. A week at the Crowne Plaza City Center in Tel Aviv for a week in June is going for NIS 5,495 on Trivago, compared to NIS 9,891 for the week of the competition. And those are the hotels that are still available. On Hotels.com, neither the Royal Beach in Tel Aviv nor the Isrotel Tower Hotel had any bookings that week — still eight months away. Will visitors fare better booking an AirBnB vacation rental? For now, it seems the answer is yes. A studio apartment in northern Tel Aviv is currently going for NIS 1,553 for the week of the competition - the exact same price it would be several weeks earlier. A small one bedroom apartment in the city's north is priced at NIS 1,577 for that week - which is also that apartment's standard rate the rest of the year. A two-bedroom apartment on the beach in the city's north is priced at NIS 2,767 for the week of the Eurovision - the same as it is any other week. And that price is still considerably lower than any hotel in the area - without the amenities, of course. But at some point, hosts are bound to wise up to the premium pricing, and make their own changes in accordance with hotels. And I wouldn't be surprised if many Israelis decide to bunk down with their parents for the week and rent out their Tel Aviv apartments for the cost of a month's rent. And what about flight costs? Right now, the prices for nonstop flights to Tel Aviv from Rome, London, Paris and Stockholm are more or less the same during the week of the Eurovision as the dates surrounding it. In fact, flights from Paris and London to Tel Aviv during Passover, about a month earlier, are considerably higher than they are for the Eurovision. Of course, all this is with eight months to go until the competition begins. Anybody who waits too long to book is bound to lay out a considerable amount of money.