Blogger gets gouged: hotel pricing Miami style

Note the following rates (before not inconsiderable indirect taxes being applied), per night for a room in a hotel in Miami’s South Beach.

Date/price (US)
18/12: $69
19/12: $89
20/12: $89
21/12: $69
22/12: $69
23/12: $69
24/12: $69
25/12: $129
26/12: $149
27/12: $149
28/12: $159
29/12: $209
30/12: $209
31/12: $209
01/01: $160

Quite a varied pricing strategy, I’m sure you’ll agree!

Of course, there is a debate about whether charging different rates on different days/dates for the same room in a particular hotel can accurately be described as price discrimination, since obtaining a room when you want to bring in the new year in one of the world’s biggest party towns is no good unless it is for any other night than New Year’s Eve—i.e. they are not perfect substitutes. But if we take the more relaxed definition of the marginal cost of the product essentially remaining the same then this constitutes price discrimination.

Stories abounded that the property market collapse, which has hit Florida hardest of all American states, had dampened demand for tickets at super-exclusive events at nightclubs on the Beach.

Despite celebrity appearances by the likes of Lindsay Lohan and chum, tickets were changing hands for far below the $5000 plus they went for in previous years.

According to the manager, the blogger’s hotel was, however, as busy as ever.