The IOC was not mistaken. By announcing last week the arrival of the American Airbnb in the global TOP program, the Olympic organization set the tone. According to its press release, the peer-to-peer housing platform will make it possible to “ generate direct income for hosts and local communities"
In Tokyo next year, as in Paris four years later, apartment owners will therefore be able to get rich. Cool. But what about the visitors? For them, it is not certain that the arrival of Airbnb as a global partner of the IOC will change the situation. In the Japanese capital, in particular, finding a home for the next Summer Games turns out to be an exercise reserved for a wealthy elite.
Charline Picon, the 2016 Olympic windsurfing champion, is not one of them. The French windsurfer posted a call for help on her Tweeter account last week: “Hey Tokyo 2020, if you don’t want foreign fans next summer… tell us! Airbnb prices for one night: nothing less than 600 euros“. Illustrating his tweet, a map details the prices displayed by the platform: they range between 633 and 3.365 euros per night.
Hotels ? Not better. The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun conducted the investigation. The result is edifying. In Tokyo and nearby areas, prices offered during the 2020 Games period are often 2 to 4 times higher than usual prices. The increase accelerated last May, when the organizing committee launched the first ticket lottery, reserved for the Japanese public.
A hotel in the Minato district, for example, where rooms are usually offered at 20.000 yen per night (167 euros), displays a rate of 40.000 yen for the same accommodation during the Games period. A “capsule hotel” in the Shinjuku district has quadrupled its prices. A hostel in the Chuo district has almost doubled its prices.
Reaction of a 26-year-old Japanese woman living in Osaka: “ I'm thinking of resolving to return home, without staying the night in Tokyo, after attending the competition.". The young woman, who obtained places for the athletics events, plans to invite her parents, who live in the Nagano region. But double rooms still available on the Internet are currently selling for more than 100.000 yen per night (834 euros!). “ I paid around 140.000 yen for the tickets (1.168 euros). I can no longer afford a room.”, she explained to the Yomiuri Shimbun.
The situation is undoubtedly not blocked. According to a survey carried out last June by the weekly Hotels, more than 150 hotels are expected to open in Tokyo by next year. The accommodation capacity should therefore increase by more than 20.000 rooms.
At the same time, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee will soon put back on the market a contingent of hotel rooms not reserved by its various "clients", international Olympic organizations, partners, national Olympic committees or media. He had secured around 46 in advance, in more than 000 hotels. “ We will cancel the rooms as soon as we have confirmation that they are no longer needed.”, assured a Tokyo 2020 spokesperson.
Enough to balance the balance between supply and demand? Not sure. But the Japanese are getting active. The municipality of Kawasaki, a city located between Tokyo and Yokohama, is currently negotiating with a private company the installation of a cruise liner in its port. Its 928 rooms can accommodate 1.870 people.
In Chiba, local authorities are appealing to the population to try to find a solution to the shortage of accommodation. They launched a program encouraging residents to rent one or more rooms in their accommodation to foreign visitors. Announced objective: to offer an offer of around a hundred houses.
