£3k a night as landlords hike prices for Cop26
LANDLORDS in Glasgow are charging up to £44,000 to rent out a flat for a fortnight during Cop26.
One ‘flat/condominium’ is advertised on Airbnb as having Sky TV, underground parking, riverside views and luxury furnishings – and amounts to £3,157 per night.
It is limited to just two guests a night between October 29 and November 11.
Other dizzyingly priced rentals on the site include a penthouse in a neo-classical building, with river views, sleeping four people. At £1,500 a night, it totals £21,000 for the duration of the conference, not including a £30 cleaning fee.
A one-bedroom flat on the banks of the Clyde, within walking distance of the Cop26 venue, is on offer at £9,028 for a 12-night stay. The service charge alone comes to £1,308.
The same property costs £1,581 for the same length of stay starting in November after the conference ends, with a service fee of £229.
Some hotels are charging 20 times their normal rate.
The Charing Cross Hotel in Glasgow advertised rooms for £1,075 a night during the conference – dropping to £54 a night the week after Cop26.
Even hostel-style accommodation is exorbitant. Booking.com is offering a single bunk bed in a 14-person dormitory for £181 a night.
Concerns have been raised that the poorest countries will struggle to be represented properly because of the shortage of affordable accommodation.
Homeowners in Glasgow who rent out their property for the first time during the conference are even being offered a £100 cash incentive by Airbnb. The booking site has also pledged to donate all profits it makes on rentals during Cop26 to Zero Waste Scotland.
The Scottish Government has urged people to open their doors and provide affordable or free accommodation to attendees. Nearly 700 households have already signed up to the Cop26 Homestay Network, operated by the third sector.
Around 25,000 people are expected to attend the conference, which will be held at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).
Each member of the United Nations has been invited to Glasgow, meaning nearly 120 heads of state are expected to attend.
Around 1,000 people are likely to accompany US President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet alone. Other attendees will include the Queen, who will give a speech on the summit’s opening day, Prince Charles and Barack Obama.
But many delegates are being forced to stay in Edinburgh because of the lack of availability of hotel rooms in Glasgow.
Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, who is coordinating several delegations from the Pacific Islands, told the Financial Times: ‘Our people are coming from the other side of the world... and now the closest accommodation available is in Edinburgh. It’s going to be really difficult.’
Two cruise ships, the MS Romantika and MS Silja Europa, providing accommodation for 6,000 people, will be anchored on the Clyde at King George V dock.
Paavo Nõgene, chief executive of the ship owner Tallink, told the BBC the decision to bring a second ship to Scotland was a ‘last-minute agreement’.
Medical experts have warned that keeping thousands of people in close confines may make the ships incubators for Covid-19 infections.
The ships are also powered by diesel, attracting further criticism that they will be contributing to the greenhouse effect and air pollution while they are anchored in the city when it is hosting a conference aimed at combating climate change.
‘It is going to be really difficult’