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Rooms hard to find in the Falls

Niagara Falls is getting ready for one of the most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations ever. The Niagara Parks Commission is putting on a show with star power this year. Keith Urban, Shawn Mendes and Nick Jonas are headlining. And with tens of thousands of fans expected, a room in the city is hard to find.
There’s entertainment for almost everyone. Nick Jonas, Shawn Mendes and country music Grammy winner Keith Urban. Wife Nicole Kidman and the kids are in Niagara Falls with him too.
The stage is all set.
The Bonani family travelled from Brazil to be here for the party: “Because of the celebration, all the concerts and everything.”
Wayne Thomson, Niagara Falls tourism: “But I think the key element is, it’s free. It’s a free concert outside. Anybody can go. People want to come to see the event. And this is without exception the best lineup they ever had. And it tells the story the rates for the rooms will be higher because people want to be here.”
So many people want to be in Niagara Falls for new year’s, hotel rooms, especially those with a falls view, can’t be found. And if they can, the price has skyrocketed. A regular room priced at 200 dollars could easily be going for 600 or more on new year’s.
“That’s exactly why we passed on staying New Year’s Eve because of the price and the rates.”
So the DeSantis family is spending a couple of days in Niagara Falls before new year’s: “We have yet to see new year’s festivities or an event in Niagara. Over the years, we’ve been
coming to Niagara Falls, it would have been nice to stay, but that’s what pushed us back was the hotel rate.”
Even the lower end motels on Stanley Avenue and Lundy’s Lane are cashing in on the New Year’s Eve craze. A room that’s priced at one rate today will be three times that for the same room tomorrow.
At one motel on Lundy’s Lane, a room going for $89 tonight will be priced at $260 tomorrow. And the thing is, most of these motels are nearly sold out.
The Hassler family drove up from New Hampshire for a few days. They were willing to pay a premium for a Fallsview room for tomorrow night: “Cause it was new year’s, and the pictures from the room are gorgeous. If we went to Boston, it would be four hundred more a night so it was worth it to come up to the beautiful Niagara Falls and pay the difference.”
Now $500 to $600 for a Fallsview room on new year’s is a lot of money. But it’s even more significant when you consider that someone coming here in July will pay less.