Formula One news

Bahrain hotels urged not to rip off F1 fans

Martin Whiteaker, General Manager of the Bahrain International Circuit, has urged hotels and other businesses to resist over-charging fans who travel to Bahrain for the annual Formula One race.

Whiteaker said at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Salmaniya: "We have something in the region of 2,500 rooms which we protect for the Formula One people, because obviously we have to make sure that all the teams that travel have somewhere to stay."

"I think it is fair to say that a number of people do feel that the hotel prices are too expensive here for the Grand Prix. I think in a sense we have to be very careful we don't cut off our noses to spite our face," said Whiteaker. "I think it is important that we recognise that when people leave here they are going to talk about what happened to them when they were here."

"I want to make sure that people leave here having had a good time and that means that they didn't feel they were ripped off. I think there are occasions, certainly during the Grand Prix, when there is a feeling that the hotel prices are too expensive.

"I think we must remember as a circuit and as hoteliers we have almost a social or community conscience, in the fact that this is our home and we need to use that to demonstrate what is great about Bahrain."

At some hotels the rooms are being sold for over three times the normal price during the Grand Prix weekend.

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