CHICAGO, Ill.
- A survey comparing the rates of hotel rooms in Indianapolis over the Big Game weekend has just been completed by CheapHotels.org, and the news is disheartening for diehard football fans and non-sports-fanatic Indy visitors alike this upcoming February. Hotels in and around Indianapolis are jacking up their rates as much as 2000% over their regular prices.

What is enabling them to get away with this ploy? Blame it on a scarcity of rooms. Indeed, most hotel rooms in Indianapolis for the Big Game weekend were already booked solid a full year in advance of the big game. This inability to snag a place to stay is attributable to hotels blocking off 18,300 hotel rooms in 141 hotels in and around Indianapolis for the National Football League.

A few hotel rooms are still available in the near vicinity, but that convenience will come at a hefty price. Case in point is the Quality Inn & Suites. This 2 star hotel situated about 9 miles from downtown Indianapolis normally goes for $60 a night. Come early February, however, the no-frills establishment is charging $1000 per night, a 1500% rate hike.

Those who are thinking they'll slum it and go budget for the weekend might want to think again. At the Knights Inn Indianapolis Airport, where a room is normally priced at $39, they can expect to pay a whopping $800, nearly 2000% more than they usually would.

Alternatively, they can give up the convenience of the city altogether. The cheapest rate still available in the wider vicinity is the Quality Inn in Noblesville. Located about 20 miles from downtown Indianapolis, rooms there are listed at $300 (versus the usual $100).

To score a room for under $150 per night, Indy visitors will have to settle for driving more than an hour outside the city. Although the rates are still being doubled there over the Big Game weekend, in Bloomington and Lafayette, such prices are available. And if one wants to avoid super-jacked-up prices altogether? Think a 90-mile radius out from city center. Terre Haute and Richmond, both on that outer circumference, are the closest locales offering rooms at regular prices.