Football: UEFA presses Ukraine over Euro hotel costs
UEFA on Thursday pushed its concerns about rocketing hotel costs in Ukraine, as the hospitality industry there jacks up its prices for the looming European football championships.
"There are issues around the high cost of hotels in Ukraine in particular," said David Taylor, chief executive of the events arm of European football's governing body.
"That is causing us some concern. Of course UEFA cannot fix that ourselves. We don't manage hotels. But we do think it's not a very good image to present of trying to charge as much as possible," he told reporters in Warsaw, capital of Ukraine's Euro 2012 co-host Poland.
Last week, Ukraine vowed to take action, with Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov saying prices must be "acceptable".
"Poverty causes greed," Kolesnikov said. "We forgave our hotels their debts 10 years ago to stimulate their development. We counted on their loyalty but they lifted the prices."
"However, our government has enough power to reduce their appetite," he warned.
The Football Supporters Europe lobby group has slammed hoteliers for raising their prices by as much as seven times in Ukraine, and five-fold in Poland.
It has highlighted cases of supporters who reserved rooms that normally would cost 28 euros, but have been invoiced for 210 euros.
Taylor echoed those concerns.
"Some of the prices you see for hotels in Ukraine are way above what we feel is right," he said.
Euro 2012 kicks off on June 8 in Warsaw and ends with the final in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on July 1.
It marks the first edition of the quadrennial, 16-nation tournament to take place in Eastern Europe, and both host countries are hoping to use it to boost their tourist trade down the line.
But Taylor warned that trying to make a fast buck during the three-week tournament could backfire.
"We speak to the authorities, we speak to hotels, we try to ensure that they understand the importance of trying to set prices at a reasonable level so that, in future years, people who come to Ukraine can enjoy it and come back, not be scared off by high prices," he said.
