If you’re looking for a hotel to stay in during Florida A&M University’s homecoming weekend, expect to pay more. The cheapest room available as of Wednesday afternoon rings in at $175. The following weekend, the same room is listed for $80. Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor calls that price gouging.
Proctor says hotels shouldn’t be allowed to raise their rates just because a special event is scheduled. And he’s written a letter to the Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Attorney General asking them to look into the issue.
“Again and again and year after year there’s a pattern and I’m asking for a 7-year review to see the pattern that occurs around Florida State and Florida A&M’s events and you will see price spikes that cannot be explained other than,” Proctor says.
Proctor says it doesn’t seem right that many local hotels have steep price increases during busy times of the year.
“Well it continues to give Tallahassee a bad look. It continues to give us that hustlers paradise. It gives that image, that essence that you can go to Tallahassee if you want to, but there’s going to be a shakedown,” Proctor says.
Tallahassee isn’t the only community that sees price increases during peak events. And the state’s price gouging laws wouldn’t apply in this case since they’re focused on major disasters, like hurricanes.
