San Diego Hotel Supply and Demand

Late last week, after a meeting, a co-worker and I were griping about typical office BS when discussion moved to the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, specifically lodging for said convention. He and his wife attend all four days of Comic-Con every year, and a few days prior, out of boredom, he started researching hotels for 2008. He was very shocked by what he saw.

Last year, he and his wife stayed at a Best Western, which averaged $160 per night. With the growing popularity of the convention, he was expecting a 10%-20% increase. Instead, he found that particular hotel was charging an average of $230 a night for the 2008 dates. That’s more than a 40% increase! But here’s the kicker. Out of curiosity, my co-worker checked the price for the weekend before and the weekend after the convention, and in each case, the hotel was only charging $170 per night. In other words, Comic-Con attendees get to pay an extra 35%.

This got me curious about how widespread this trend really is, so I did a bit of my own research this past weekend. I plugged dates for the weekend of, and the weekend before, the convention into Expedia and searched the “San Diego – Downtown and Airport” region. Here’s a sample of the data that was returned (Hotel name ; user rating out of 5 ; per night price the weekend before ; per night price the weekend of):

Harbor View Inn ; N/A ; $223 ; $223
Comfort Inn Airport ; 4.1 ; $168 ; $229
Marina Inn ; 2.7 ; $247 ; $247
Comfort Inn Gaslamp ; 3.8 ; $153 ; $298
Courtyard Mariott Gaslamp ; 4.6 ; $289 ; $359
Sheraton Hotel & Marina ; 4.3 ; $369 ; $369
Ramada Gaslamp ; 3.3 ; $175 ; $389
W San Diego ; 3.6 ; $259 ; $459

Granted, those hotels are close to the convention center and most likely in the upper end of the price spectrum, but according to Expedia, they’re all that’s available. The lower cost hotels (Days Inn Downtown, Best Western Bayside, Hampton Inn) don’t have the convention dates available. In fact, of the 30+ hotels that Expedia returned for the downtown area, 20 aren’t available on the convention weekend. Whether that means they’re not available now and will release rooms in the future, or they’re just plain sold-out remains to be seen. The bottom line is you should probably start making plans sooner rather than later.

Now, for the record, I see nothing wrong with the hotels increasing prices for Comic-Con weekend. I’m an unapologetic capitalist, and they’re just following basic supply and demand. If people are willing/stupid enough to pay those prices, then by all means charge it. I’m a firm believer that prices will always self-correct to what the market can support. And please note, there are still plenty of less expensive rooms available outside of the downtown area, such as near Qualcomm Stadium, so things aren’t as grim as they could be.

With that said, does anyone out there want to share a room with me? My only requirement is that you wear a Catwoman or Supergirl costume whenever in the room.