Some hotel operators in Inglewood, California, are jacking up their prices for Super Bowl weekend, but as Inside Edition recently found out, you may not get what you pay for.
The labor department just announced that inflation is at a 40-year high — up 7.5% from the same time last year.
COVID-19-related shortages are partly to blame, but you can't use that as the excuse for some sky-high hotel prices Inside Edition found near the Super Bowl.
It happens every year when some hotel operators jack up their prices, but as chief investigative correspondent Lisa Guerrero reports, sometimes, you really don’t get much for your money.
At a Motel 6, not far from SoFi Stadium, the average room rents for $85 a night, but on Super Bowl weekend, they're advertising rooms for more than $500.
So what did we get for our money?
While the sheets in the room looked OK, under the mattress was an open box of condoms, and the seat cushions were covered with sticky stains.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Motel 6 said: “[their] number one priority is providing a safe, clean and comfortable environment for all our guests. We are working with property management to ensure that this hotel meets our high standards so we can deliver a great experience for all of our guests.”
Right down the street at Lyfe Inn & Suites, rooms can go for $90 a night. But for Super Bowl weekend, Inside Edition found it advertised online for a whooping $1,499.
In the bathroom of one hotel room, we found that the shower curtain was covered with ominous red stains. There was food all over the floor that looked like beans and rice.
Behind the bed was disgusting, and when we pushed back the mattress in the room, there were three cockroach bait stations.
A manager for the Lyfe Inn & Suites told Inside Edition he would replace the shower curtain, and acknowledges they’ve had a problem with cockroaches in the past.
As for the price, a district manager later said it was a typo and the rooms are renting for $449 a night, not $1,499. He also said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been restricted in cleaning rooms and said that housekeeping is not allowed to go into rooms everyday unless requested by a guest or the room is unoccupied between guests, adding that sometimes housekeepers "aren’t that thorough."
But nothing compared to what we found at the Holly Crest Hotel just blocks away from SoFi Stadium.
Inside Edition rented a room for $85, but for the big game, they're charging more than nine times their normal rate at $780 a night.
In the room we had, there were nasty yellow stains all over the mattress cover and an “uncured ham” sticker covering the smoke detector.
The manager removed the sticker and says they plan to replace the mattress as well.
