Hotel prices in the large cities of the Barents Region vary substantially. Russian cities are both on the top and the bottom of this hotel price survey made by BarentsObserver. In Murmansk a bed will cost you €122 while in Arkhangelsk; you get a good night sleep for €62 – half the price.
BarentsObserver carried out the survey by searching for a single standard room in a hotel located in the city centre. We excluded typical low cost hostels and airport hotels.
The date for booking was made single room for the night Monday April 11th, including breakfast. In the booking search we used hotels.com and control checked with booking.com and consequently picked the cheapest result within our criteria. We also cross-checked the prices at the different hotels own portals.
Here is the result from the 10 largest cities in the Barents Region:
1. Murmansk: Hotel Meridian- €122
2. Bodø: Skagen hotell - €113
3. Tromsø: Thon Hotel Polar - €108
4. Syktyvkar: Hotel Syktyvkar - €96
5. Umeå: OK hotell - €94
6. Oulu: Best Western Hotel Apollo - €88
7. Rovaniemi: Scandic Rovaniemi - €87
8. Petrozavodsk: Hotel Severnaya - €83
9. Luleå: Hotell Aveny - €81
10. Arkhangelsk: Hotel Dvina - €62
Growing demand and limited hotel offer are the main reasons why the prices are peaking in Murmansk. The business portal Barentsnova.com reports a recent hike in accommodation prices in Murmansk from 5 to 25 percent at the city’s two central hotels Park Inn Poliarnie Zori and Meridian. At Poliarnie Zori a bed will cost you 5,200 rubles (€129) and at Meridian a bed is 4,900 rubles (€122).
FLAIT Group is one of the tour operators in Murmansk and director Ulrich Kreuzenbeck expects even higher prices in the time to come.
- The hotel market in Murmansk has not only recovered after the (financial) crises but seems to be a formidable money machine for the hotel owners, says Kreuzenbeck on his own portal.