Renting a hotel room as a base camp and crash pad for New Year's Eve celebrations sounds like a good idea, but those who don't already have a nice one booked will be punished harshly for their spontaneity. A new survey says rates for vacant Los Angeles hotel rooms with at least three stars, if you can find them, are up 150 percent or more, reports the LA Business Journal. "It's getting more and more expensive on New Year's Eve, in particular in downtown L.A.," says a rep for LosAngelesHotels.org, which conducted the survey. "Three years ago, the least expensive three-star hotel room did cost $200. This year, you will have to spend $400." (Could the popularity of DTLA's massive, free New Year's Eve celebration at Grand Park, coming up on its third year, have had a hand in the rate rise?)
The survey found, unsurprisingly, that the super-hip Ace Hotel on Broadway in Downtown will be charging $676 for a bedroom with a king-sized bed this New Year's Eve; normally, that room would cost just $251 for a night. But the rate hike isn't just at fashionable hotels: the Best Western Hollywood Hills—the BEST WESTERN!—has priced a room with a queen at $626 for NYE.
The biggest rate hike in the survey probably has less to do with New Year's Eve and more to do with New Year's Day. Pasadena hotels saw some of the biggest increases, with the Pasadena Rose Inn charging $690 on NYE (for a room that would otherwise run $102) and the Vagabond Inn Pasadena charging a staggering $805 on December 31 for a room with a king-sized bed, instead of the $129 it would usually run. These rates are enough to drive a person to Airbnb.