“We are not yet be complete” and the accommodations will not be before “the end of September,” said Omar Al-Jaber, responsible for accommodation within the Supreme Committee for the Organization of the World Cup on Tuesday in Qatar.
While some fans worry that they won’t find budget-friendly accommodation in the tiny Gulf emirate during the tournament from November 21 to December 18, Al-Jaber said the number of reservations was “more than 25,000.” , quoted AFP. “I’m talking about reservations, not rooms or overnight stays,” he specified.
There are “more than 100,000 rooms available”, but this number should in the future reach “130,000 or 140,000”, “If you visit our official platform, you will find many options,” continued the person in charge. “And if you don’t find today, check tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or later, because from time to time we add other options.”
On Tuesday, bookings came mainly from the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Argentina and India. Fans usually find their accommodation on their own. But taking into account the small size of Qatar and its limited hotel capacity, most accommodation is offered on an official platform, reserved for ticket holders and managed by the organization.
This platform offers, to the more than one million expected fans, the accommodation (apartments, villas, prefabricated houses, campsites, cruises) at a price range from 300 Qatari riyals (81.7 dollars) per night to several thousand euros. “Of course, prices evolve according to supply and demand and hotel rates,” Al-Jaber said.
Although the country has had to build numerous permanent and temporary accommodations for the 2022 World Cup, the person in charge made it known that 85% of the works were already finished and that the last ones would be at “the end of August.” A large part of the hotel rooms were pre-reserved by the organization for the teams, officials and the media, but those that are not used will be released. More than 160 daily return flights from neighboring countries (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman) are also planned to allow them to host fans.
Qatar will be closed to visitors who do not have tickets for the matches, those who do can stay as long as they wish, according to Al-Jaber. After the first two sales phases, the number of tickets sold reaches 1.2 million. The third phase should start soon.
