Not the big easy when it comes to jacked-up room rates
If you want to join the millions at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, there’s still time but it will be costly. "Last minute guests will have to pay sky-high prices for the privilege of staying there," says CheapHotels.org.
Mardi Gras starts tomorrow and runs through next week’s "Fat Tuesday."
CheapHotels says a few sites are still listing vacancies. But most of these are charging more than double their regular rates.
A few of these accommodations are jacking up their prices even more. For example, the Ramada Plaza Inn, a 3-star hotel on the main strip of Bourbon Street, usually charges $135 per night. For the Mardi Gras period, however, it is posting rates of $349 for the same double room," the site says.
The Holiday Inn Chateau Lemoyne in the heart of the French Quarter is price gouging out-of-town Mardi Gras revelers even more. The hotel tripled its rates for Mardi Gras, says CheapHotels.
The site concludes this is not good news for budget travelers. There are no rooms in the city proper for less than $300 a night.
Staying there, they might find it’s not the "big easy" but the big hard-to-pay.
By David Wilkening
David
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