PRAGUE Many hotels are still facing a shortage of tourists and their rooms are empty. Therefore, some accommodation facilities decided to welcome university students in the autumn and thus partially solve the crisis in tourism.
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“From our point of view, there is a great interest in long-term rentals, at the moment we have about 40 of the 350 rooms occupied. That is why we have decided to continue and offer rooms to university students,” Jakub Knejp from the Duo Hotel in Střížkov told the Lidovky.cz server. .
The hotel advertises a double room of about 20 square meters for 9900 crowns per month, including all fees and cleaning. Knejp assumes that the prize will be shared by two students. The hotel has already received a response from the students’ parents. However, the management is reportedly in contact with some Prague universities.
The Czech Inn Hotels in Prague also offered long-term rentals during the summer. “In the fall, student accommodation could be one option. But we are now trying to calculate the costs and whether it would be worthwhile for us, “said Vladimír Halgaš, Sales Director, to the Lidovky.cz server.
Privacy, but no kitchen
Maura Manzini, head of the sales department at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Brno, is also considering cooperation with the university. “We contacted Masaryk University at the end of the quarantine, but we have no feedback yet. We will see at the end of the tourist season how we will do and what the occupancy will be. However, we are happy to rent rooms to students, “she described.
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Students might be particularly interested in their own in-room bathroom, housekeeping and concierge services. On the other hand, it is not part of the kitchen equipment, only an electric kettle and a minibar. Whereas in a classic university dormitory, they usually have a shared kitchenette within one floor. On the contrary, the bathroom is often shared by at least two rooms. The price corresponds to this: you can buy a shared double room in a dormitory in Prague from about 2,300 to 6,300 crowns a month, in Brno you pay around 4,000. However, the waiting lists are relatively long and cannot be reached by everyone.
“Before the beginning of the semester, it really sometimes happens that there is a higher demand than supply in the case of dormitories. However, a large proportion of students then choose private accommodation, so it will settle. Accommodation in a hotel could thus compete more with private housing, “said Tereza Fojtková, a spokeswoman for Masaryk University in Brno, to the Lidovky.cz server. At the same time, however, she added that the university has not yet discussed anything specific with Brno hotels.
Trend from abroad
“It’s a trend we know from abroad, where hotel management is dealing with crises in this way. Most likely, this can pull the thorn out of the hotels if they expect the season not to improve and be without clients for the rest of the season. It will definitely be a certain alternative to student accommodation, “said Jan Papež, vice-chairman of the Association of Travel Agencies of the Czech Republic, for the Lidovky.cz server.
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However, according to the Pope, it will definitely not be a luxury hotel facility with expensive equipment and high maintenance costs. On the contrary, it can be a solution especially for hotels with a high capacity of rooms. This is the case, for example, with the aforementioned Hotel Duo, which normally has up to 650 of them available (now part of the hotel is under renovation).
The trend of student rental of hotel rooms really comes to us from abroad. These are mainly hotels in the United States. According to the CNBC server, some parents of American students believe that this will partially prevent the further spread of coronavirus and, most importantly, protect their offspring from infection. According to them, hotels not only provide more privacy, but are also cleaner than dormitories.
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