Spending on the upcoming Winter Olympics has vastly outstripped all other Olympic Games, costing approximately $53 billion.
While the second most expensive games, Beijing 2008, cost a similarly enormous $45 billion, third place Athens 2004 cost just $19.3 billion – just over a third of the price of Russia’s event. The second most expensive winter games after Sochi is Nagano 1998, which cost Japan $18.6 billion.
Hotel prices in Sochi and the adjacent resort town of Krasnaya Polyana have not escaped the escalating costs of the games, with hotels around the area more than doubling in price during the two-week tournament.
Research by UK price comparison website Trivago shows an average 144 percent price increase across 293 hotels. Peak prices are around the Opening Ceremony, taking place February 7. Prices that night average $226 across all hotels.
The percentage increase is particularly steep compared to London 2012, which saw maximum increases in the UK capital halt at 84 percent.
Many London hotels dropped their prices nearer to the summer games, though a Trivago spokesperson commented that room availability was lower in Sochi, so last-minute price drops are unlikely due to hotels being able to reach 100 percent occupancy.
Around 42,000 hotel rooms will be booked overall, according to CNN, and there are expected to be more than 500,000 spectators across the events.