Steel beds, luxury villas or desert camps: Qatar unveils its accommodation offers for the World Cup

From simple steel beds to luxury villas or suites on cruise liners: the accommodation offer unveiled by the Qatari organizers of the Mondial-2022 aims to reassure the supporters expected at the end of the year in the emirate. Visitors will need to buy a ticket for the match if they want to get official accommodation, but private platforms and some hotels will also offer rooms.

Fans must also register for a special pass giving access to stadiums and fan zones, explain the Qatari organizers of the event, which runs from November 21 to December 18. Nearly 1.2 million supporters from all over the world are expected in this small country of just over 10,000 km2 where nearly 3 million inhabitants live.

Around two million tickets are available to the public (3.1 million in total) for the event. More than 800,000 have already found buyers in the first phase of sales and organizers had registered nearly 17 million requests by February, despite criticism of Qatar’s record in the treatment of its migrant workers.

The accommodation offer, intended for all budgets, should reassure supporters. The less fortunate can sleep on single steel beds in studios for 84 dollars (76 euros) a night. The best off will have the opportunity to afford a night in a luxury villa or on a cruise liner for nearly 1000 dollars (900 euros).

Alcohol in the fan zones

The government and the International Football Federation (Fifa) have reserved 130,000 rooms in hotels or apartments for the competition. But they will also have two cruise ships in port in Doha and may set up desert camps for supporters. Omar al-Jaber, the executive director in charge of accommodation within the organizing committee, said at a press conference that the price varied “depending on the location and the type of accommodation chosen”.

But he warned fares would be based on “supply and demand” and those who book early would get the cheapest prices. When AFP went to the site to book accommodation an hour after it opened, it had to wait 50 minutes to access the list of hotels and rooms. The cheapest was a studio with two single steel beds and a communal kitchen on a alcohol-free campus in Al Wakra, a suburb of Doha.

The $84-a-night room at Barwa Barahat Al Janoub Cluster A includes a shower room, but the kitchen is shared. The sale of beer and hard drinks is very restricted in this conservative Muslim country. But the government plans to allow alcohol in fan zones, where fans can watch World Cup matches on giant screens.

The studios — near the Al Janoub stadium, where some matches will be played — and most of the accommodations are almost new. There are also luxury villas available near Al Khalifa Stadium in Doha for $920 a night.

Many fans will also be able to sleep in one of the 4,000 cabins available on the MSC Poesia and MSC World Europa cruise ships. Prices start at $180 a night for a basic cabin while some suites are more than twice as expensive.

A vaccination “passport” card

Fans must register for a Hayya card, which will serve as a visa to Qatar, a passport to enter stadiums and fan-zones and get free transport. The card should indicate whether its holder has received a vaccine against Covid-19.

“The Hayya card is the gateway to enter the stadiums of the 2022 World Cup, since it is compulsory for all fans,” said captain Mohammed al-Kuwari of the Security and Safety Operations Committee. of the government. Those who cannot afford accommodation at such high prices will make the day trip by plane from Dubai.

FIFA has also raised the possibility of housing some fans in “desert camps”.