Zibo an increasingly popular city in Shandong Province known for its Chinese style barbecue is seeking to curb spiraling hotels prices, as the cost of accommodation spikes ahead of the May Day holidays.
The rise in hotel prices should not exceed 50% of normal prices, increases outside this range will lead to hotel operators being investigated and punished for price gouging, according to a newly-released notice jointly issued by the Zibo municipal development and reform commission and market supervision administration on Saturday.
The regulations will be implemented starting from Sunday and will be removed after the May Day holiday ends.
The reference price will be based on the actual transaction prices of hotels rooms from March 1 and 31, the notice read. Instances of price gouging will be investigated by the local market supervision department and will be referred to other relevant departments for further actions. Guilty parties will be risk of being publicly named and shamed.
The move of Zibo in voluntary curbing hotel prices came after a budget hotel average room price skyrocketed to 1,000 yuan a night triggering a public backlash.
