By Vladimir Kuzmin, Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a government resolution designed to make accommodations in Sochi more affordable during the 2014 Winter Olympics. According to the resolution, the price of hotel rooms cannot exceed 14,000 rubles ($460) per day. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told the prime minister and his deputies that this would slash the prices usually charged by Sochi’s hotels in the peak season by 30-40 percent. When the city hosts major events, hotel prices sometimes jump to 157,000 rubles ($5,120) a night, the deputy prime minister said.

A deluxe suite in a five-star hotel during the Olympic Games will cost 13,896 rubles ($450); other single or double rooms will cost 8,253 rubles ($270) and 10,569 rubles ($345), respectively. In four-star hotels, deluxe rooms will cost 13,148 rubles ($430) a night and a single room - 5,839 rubles ($190). In the most popular hotels – three stars and below – and in mini-hotels, the price of a room will be 4,339 rubles ($140) or less.

Prices may be further reduced, since the construction of new hotels will double the number of hotel beds in the city. “All the hotels should be opened between June and October 2013,” said Kozak.

“Competition is all very well, but you should watch the prices,” Medvedev said.

Above all, it is important that hoteliers do not start looking for loopholes in the resolution. “Our folks are smart – too smart sometimes – and we should see to it that tourist operators and hotels do not introduce some surrogate charge that would not, in fact, be linked to the cost of accommodation, but would need to be paid to compensate for the losses,” said the prime minister.

First published in Russian in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 

• A Permanent Economic Emergency