Elton John Mission Concert demand: Hotels hike prices by $400 a night, and still sell out

The "pulling power" of Elton John is attracting the masses to Hawke's Bay resulting in price hikes in accommodation. Photo /Getty Images

A Napier hotel has already been fully booked for the hastily rearranged Elton John concert at Mission Estate, despite charging nearly four times its normal rates.

The Spanish Lady Motel, which touts itself as a "3-star accommodation", has 10 "air-conditioned ground-floor self-contained units which are serviced daily".

The prices of the rooms typically vary from $75 a night to $124 a night.

On accommodation booking sites Booking.com and TripAdvisor these prices for the night of February were on Thursday hiked up to between $400 and $500.

Fifty-two thousand people over two concerts will descend on Hawke's Bay to see Elton John at the Mission. Photo / File

Manager Doug Parkinson says the reason for the hike in price is simply because it is a high-demand period.

"All our rooms are full [in spite of the price].

"From Christmas right up to March is high demand and there is not enough room in the whole of Napier."

He added the prices were set by the hotel's head office in Wellington.

The high demand is already prompting some homeowners in Hawke's Bay to choose to spend the weekend away and charge concert goers a pretty penny to stay in their house.

One homeowner told Hawke's Bay Today he was just responding to the "phenomenally high demand" created by the "pulling power of the artist".

"We are making our place available only because of the demand.

"And we are charging a premium because location-wise we are close to the concert."

The homeowner said the accommodation demand for the concert "totally exceeds normal capacity of the available accommodation in Napier and Hastings" with what he estimated would be about 18,000 visitors.

"Quite a lot of demand is absorbed by people known to the concert goers, friends, family, etc, but demand is still way in excess."

He reckons camping areas would be "chocka" over the concert period as well.

Hawke's Bay Tourism acting general manager Hamish Saxton said it was a "business decision" for hotels to make themselves.

"Unsold rooms at the time of the event will be the gauge of whether the pricing strategy has worked or not."