With just four days left before Ondo State’s governorship election on November 16, major hotels and accommodation centres in Akure, the state capital, are already fully booked.
Daily Trust’s findings on Tuesday revealed that hotels in the city are running out of rooms, as top politicians, political party leaders, and election observers descend on Akure ahead of the election.
At several hotels, most rooms have been reserved with upfront payments. A staff member at a hotel in Alagbaka, a prime area of the city, told our correspondent that many reservations were made by politicians for their supporters and guests.
Bamidele Akingboye, a local hotelier, confirmed that many hotels have experienced a surge in guest numbers since last weekend, as election-related visitors arrived in the state. He noted that election seasons are crucial for the hospitality business, driving up demand for accommodation.
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“It will be hard to get rooms now. Like in my hotel, all the rooms have been fully booked. I even had to rent out my personal room because of the surge. We’ve also allowed staff who work late to go home, but we now drop them off in our vehicles because the few rooms we had reserved for them are now being rented out. People are flooding in, so it’s a period for us to make brisk business,” Akingboye explained.
It was also gathered that election monitoring groups and observers have also booked up rooms, while some remaining hotels have increased their prices by as much as 100%.
“Before, we rented rooms for N20,000 per night, but now the manager has raised the price to N30,000. Some people don’t mind paying; they just want to secure a place,” said an operator at one of the hotels.
With Akure’s accommodation fully booked, some visitors have opted to seek lodging in nearby cities.
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