A total of 3000 hotel rooms have been reserved for the delegations of Eurovision 2021.
Speaking to ad.nl, Roel Dusseldorp, chairperson of the trade association Rotterdam Hotel Combinatie (RHC), this block booking of hotel rooms was done shortly after it was announced that Rotterdam would host Eurovision in 2021, regardless of the pandemic situation at the time. He stated that this was quickly agreed upon with Sietse Bakker, the executive producer of Eurovision 2021:
“We immediately agreed on this with Sietse Bakker. On that basis, we keep the same number of rooms available for the participants of the Eurovision song contest, journalists and the organisation itself. In principle, each delegation will simply stay in the hotel that was booked for them last year. If it is possible to have an audience to Ahoy around that time, then we can of course add rooms on top of that.”
Dusseldorp also stated that this decision provides much needed hope for hoteliers during difficult times:
“The Eurovision Song Contest could just be the start of a return to our normal life. Then it would be a great pleasure if this could be a success in May. It is an uplifting prospect at a time when many entrepreneurs have long lost faith. The current lockdown adds even more pressure, now that the restaurants in the hotels have to remain closed. We can count the number of guests on one hand. We are now purely open out of service.”
A decision on which of the four scenarios will be used for Eurovision 2021 is due to be made within the coming weeks. The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on May 18, 20 and 22.
Image Source: The New Economy / Source: ad.nl
Do the EBU do that every year? It’s one of the criteria the host city has to be able to fill to be eligible to host.