Many major hotels in the Abuja metropolis are fully booked while others had hiked their prices ahead of the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
While the PDP is expected to hold its presidential primary on May 28 and May 29, the APC will hold its own on May 30 and May 31 in Abuja.
At Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Maitama, which is located less than 3km from Eagle Square where the APC is expected to hold its primary, it was learnt that the cheapest room was N243,000 per day as opposed to N107,000 on a usual day for the standard room.
A customer attendant, who identified herself as Precious, said rooms were limited.
She, however, told one of our correspondents that the section in charge of conferences and events would be willing to offer discounts for joint bookings of people attending the APC and PDP primaries.
“The least room available now is for N243,000 and it is a standard room. However, you can contact conferences and events for joint reservations. We have done this specifically for those attending the primaries,” she said.
At Sheraton Hotel, the price had risen from about N70,000 for the smallest room to N100,000.
Our reporter, who posed as a customer, was informed by the front desk that it was because of the forthcoming primaries.
“We have a few rooms left but the minimum rate now is N100,000. Those dates you are trying to reserve are very busy for us. I am sure you know why,” the attendant said.
At Frasier Suites located at the Central Business District, Sunday PUNCH was informed that no rooms were available.
An unidentified attendant simply said, “We have no available rooms from May 28 to May 31. However, you can call back on Monday to see if there are any spaces left.”
The story was the same at Garki, Corinthia Villa hotel, which also said they had no rooms available for May 28, 29, 30 and June 1. However, Treasure Suites, which is located opposite the Federal High Court, noted that it still had some available rooms.
At Bon Hotel located at Maitama, the attendant told Sunday PUNCH that some rooms were still available and a discount would be given if payment was made on time.
At Berbera Palace Hotel, Wuse in Abuja, an employee identified as Patience said the hotel was fully booked for those dates.
“I am sorry, ma, we don’t have any room left. All our 35 rooms have been booked for those dates,” she said.
