Prices skyrocket for Bay Area rentals, hotels ahead of Super Bowl 50
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- Try to book a hotel room in the Bay Area for the Super Bowl and you might be shocked at the price, that is, if you can even find a place to stay.
"I would venture to say that the week leading up to Super Bowl, the hotels in San Francisco will be running 95 to 100 percent full," said Thomas Klein, the General Managers at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco.
He says rooms across the Bay Area are expensive. In fact, many hotels are charging as much as six times their normal rates.
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"We're starting at $1,500 for the regular rooms, suites go up to $10,000 a night and we have a four day minimum that we require," said Roger Huldi, the General Manager at the W Hotel.
Klein says the price reflects the demand.
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"This certainly is not the norm, and nobody I know I have spoken to has clearly said we're going to go out to the market and price gouge," said Klein.
Priced out of big hotels, many visitors are looking for rooms at a house to rent.
Airbnb reports more than 6,000 listings available across the region for Super Bowl weekend with the number of searches for those accommodations up 125-percent over normal.
"We've got places that rent for $150 a night on Homeaway. We've got places that rent for $10,000 a night," said Bill Furlong, with Homeaway, the world's largest market place for renting homes.
"Super Bowl 50 is an epic, epic moment, if you think about the combination of the 50th Super Bowl, in the Bay Area, at a brand new stadium, Beyonce and Coldplay doing the music - I don't think that the stars could align for a more epic event than that," said Furlong.
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That's translating into epic demand for home rentals - especially in the South Bay.
"I don't have to rent it out, but it is well worth it for someone if they are really going to do it right and do the Super Bowl right. This is the place to stay," said Tamara, who is hoping to rent her four bedroom home near Levi Stadium.
She's renting it for $20,000 a night - with a four night minimum. She's already getting calls.
If she does rent the house she knows what she'll do with the money.
"Our daughter is getting married in May, to a wonderful young man, and we would love to rent the house to pay for the wedding," she said.
She says she'll also donate some to charity.
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