A big weekend of events in Wagga has led to claims of price gouging

Some people travelling to Wagga for the weekend have reported paying double or even the triple the standard rate as accommodation providers look to cash-in on demand.

With the NSW Touch Association junior carnival, Food and Wine Festival and Country Championships race day all falling on the same weekend, it promises to be one of Wagga's busiest weekends since the pandemic.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Hotels and motels are largely fully booked and the cheapest last-minute rooms available yesterday were setting people back about $950 for two nights. In comparison, a two-night stay next month at the same hotels are selling for just $340.

Airbnb providers were also upping their prices significantly in the hope of securing a windfall, with one Airbnb going for $1445 for two nights compared to the usual price of about $300.

Speaking at the launch event for the touch carnival, Wagga mayor Dallas Tout said accommodation providers needed to be careful not to engage in price gouging in their attempts to maximise returns from big events.

"The operators in the city need to be aware that it's great for them, but that sort of behaviour doesn't cut it," he said.

"They deserve the patronage. But there is a lot of goodwill in place when you sign up for huge carnivals like this, or any large event, and people expect to come to see fair value.

"Whether it's a a room in a motel or an Airbnb or whatever it is, people need to be fair and considerate of everyone who's coming."

The high prices have left some families wishing to come to Wagga for the carnival disappointed, and resorting to local Facebooks groups for help finding a cheap room.

But Jamie Pascoe, the general manager of The Charles, said that behaviour that might have constituted price gouging in the past is now just providers trying to remain viable through the pandemic. "Ultimately you're seeing in the economy things are highly inflated if they're scarce," he said.

"And we're looking at rises in wages and costs and rapid antigen tests, all these sorts of things are coming into our business ... hotels have got to survive."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: