Going to Qatar 2022: tickets, accommodations, etc. (non-politics)

A corrupt organization and an equally corrupt country hosting the tournament

 

For those who stayed in a hotel/rented apartments for Russia and Brasil, what were the prices like per night? Russia I stayed with family, so I didn't have to pay for accommodation and travel. Surely, no chance in hell it was anywhere remotely close to Qatar prices...

 

exactly my point. I am ok with some price increase, but this is crazy. and this is for a decent business hotel, but it's not luxury.

 

I think the most we paid in Brazil was something like 3x normal off-season (lowest) price for a hotel. Which worked out to about USD $60 more than the low season normal per night. And that was only because it was the most highly desirable location right in front of the beach in Fortaleza. Most other hotels we had were only moderately above the high season rates, like 1.5x or maybe 2x at the most.

 

I just looked it up as I kept a budget spreadsheet for WC18:

Moscow 2-star outside city center but on Metro: US$211/night
Sochi 2-star right on the boardwalk: $178/night
Kazan 3-star in city center: $108/night
Kaliningrad 3-star: $109/night

I used Marriott points in St. Petersburg and my 2nd stay in Moscow but I recall the points required were really low.

 

Jo'Burg, South Africa- mediocre hostel with private bathroom was about 120$ a night near nothing.

Natal, Brazil- 250$ a night for a guesthouse style hotel near the beach and activities

Manaus, Brazil- Had 40$ a person dorm style but our group took all 6 beds for 3 nights. The messaged me the day before saying the price was wrong and that it was 400$ a person a night. Told them to pound sand and we got a really shitty AirBnB that the owner was very nice and showed us around. I spent the better part of the next year posting awful reviews for that Manaus hostel until I go their rating down to 2 stars on TripAdvisor. They have since shut down.

Moscow, Russia- $200 a night for a Cold War Suite hotel that had a couch and TV that looked from the 80s in photos. It was on the edge of Moscow but on the train line. Get there and it had been completely remodeled it. Was a great time and had one of the best Chinese restaurants of my life on the top floor.

St. Petersburg, Russia- $200 a night for a hotel in the city center. I don't remember much about it so I assume it was fine.

 

Agreed 2-3x ha been the norm. But you can't compare the hospitality packages from FIFA to the prices for the hotels. Those always are stupid expensive.

 

Wow, bad luck for you in Brazil. I guess we may have been lucky because we got there at the very end of the group stage and stayed until the final, so there was probably less demand at that time.

 

Which is why I want to spend as few nights in Qatar as possible. But in a surprise to absolutely no one, they have all colluded to make that extremely difficult. Pay $400/night to Accor and thus FIFA/Qatar, or buy three $1500 one-hour round trip flights on Qatar Airways. All the same pockets.

 

I agree, but I highly doubt we see rooms at that USD $86 per night hotel available for USD $172 to $258 per night, which would be 2x to 3x.

 

so that's my hope. I am pretty sure the Hospitality prices include another layer of profit by the middle man, the hospitality organizations. I should add, the one perk it includes was airport transfers that can't be worth that much.

So IF (big if) hotels are made available to us, what do you think the rate will be for a hotel like the Movenpick? If it comes out at $350/night for us (only 4x normal) I'd be all over it.

Also I think Movenpick Doha is actually classified as a 4-star even though to me that means places like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, etc. 5-star being JW Marriott, Conrad, Grand Hyatt, etc.

 

In Russia we stayed at Radisson Blu Paradise Resort in Sochi.
We paid $185 per night per room
We did have to share general facilities with Ronaldo, De Bruyne and Mueller!
This is my photo from my room, showing the stadium just 800 metres away


Room was booked 17th June 2017.

 

if someone classifies it at a 4 star, it will be a 4 star price. my guess is hotels will not be that bad. flagships like marriott, hyatt and hiltons will go in the 400 range. 500-600 will be for the high end spots. cheap places will be in that 300 range.

I mean I have a 3 bedroom for 600 a night, seemed completely reasonable to me.

I think the issue will be is that places are gonna sell out so fast when they eventually become available. And only will last minute slots open up when they are given back.

 

FIFA opened up its most profitable sites first. Apartments, cruise ships and fan villages. The hotels that are big name have rooms blocked by sponsors/teams who are going to pay for them regardless of if they are used. If FIFA can double sell a hotel room after it is given back, they will do it. But they want to allow as many of the big profit places fill up first. Also people who freak out and book that full board Cruise Ship room and that Apartment complex in the middle of nowhere.

They don't have incentive to release hotel rooms yet and it is going to be a while. The next ticket drop will create another round of ticket holder who need to finalize flights and hotel. Some will panic buy and pay the prices. Others will will stand pat. My guess is a month or so after... Sometime in July will be the first time we see Hotel drops.

 

That's a fair point. I'd like to think the hire company is trustworthy enough to honour the booking. Not the end of the world though if we don't end up with a car.

 

I am travelling with members of my family, so will be paying for all the people in the group, for a 8 night stay. If I was sharing with the cost with a group then I guess it would be different. Having said that, and reading other people's comments it seems that paying $400 per night for a 2 bed Apartment may be the best I'm going to get.

 

For all the reasons posted regarding hotels, etc., we are thinking of just catching a couple of games in Qatar and then taking our money and moving on to Egypt. You can get a room at a luxury 5 star hotel with a view of the Nile for $400 or less in Egypt. With so much more to see there, it seems like money better spent.

 

I did read several days ago a couple of posts about best/better areas for accommodation and didn't see these mentioned. The apartments I am looking at are in these areas: Najma, Old Airport, Fereej Bin Derham, Fereej Kulaib. Anyone with local or even non-local knowledge have any thoughts about these locations? My games will be at these stadiums: Khalifa, Lusail, Stadium 974

 

Frankly I am a little puzzled by this accommodation mess. It is remarkable that FIFA expects my group to spend $15K in match tickets without an assurance that we won't get totally raped on accommodations thereafter.

 

FIFA doesn't care. If you don't want to get screwed over, then you can pass and they will just do it to somebody else.

 

I sure hope you are right. I am waiting myself for hotels to get listed for the back half of my trip and would be OK with the prices you listed. $400/night for Western brands like Marriott or Hilton would be a hit on the budget but I'd be OK with it, even if those same rooms go for under $200 in other times.

But I am going to predict the prices will be at least 50% higher and maybe double your guess. I also wouldn't be surprised if the true 5-star luxury places never come available for the general public. I hope you are right and I am wrong.

 

Be aware about car traffic restrictions in some areas of the city during the world cup. if I'm not mistaken, a restriction plan was released a few months ago

 

Late to the party, but read through the 200+ pages to catchup on WC tips. Thanks to everyone for the valuable info! I have a question related to match tickets that I didn't see in this thread: I learned that if you get at least one ticket through your "legit" account with correct info, then u can use that to apply for the hayya card and so on. So my question is: can I do that, then use cat4 tickets from an account of a friend of mine that lives in Qatar? He's not interested in going but he said he can buy me all the tickets I want for $10 a ticket if I figure out a way to use them without being caught. Or does he have to buy 2 tickets a match and take me in with him? Heck I'll pay for all his tickets and still save tons of money. Any idea on this from the experienced guys?

 

i actually think the luxury places will be more likely to have availability than the flagships. I've worked in Marriotts and have enough knowledge of the other brands through friends that when sporting teams stay at hotels, they tend to stay at your flagships like Marriott, Hilton, etc. not the Ritz Carltons etc.

 

The application of Hayya cards are different for international fans, compared to the residents. The data base in integrated to the national system, you only have to put you national ID in the Hayya application and it will fetch you the rest. If your friend only buys one ticket and give it to you, you will be in the residents sections with an international Hayya card with a different name on the ticket. So it will be easy for them to restrict non residents from sitting in the residents sections. Will they do it is anybody's guess. Only people who took residents ticket in Russia will be able to tell you this who last world cup worked with residents tickets. My guess is if you have your name on the ticket and same on hayya, chances are you will not have any problem.
If you havnt yet applied for tickets, chances of him getting cat4 tickets are going to be slim from now on for good matches