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Hotels fined over $140,000 for price gouging in run-up to 2018 World Cup — watchdog

As many as 173 hotels have been found to have no classification certificates

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Russia’s consumer rights watchdog, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being, reported on Thursday that as many as 704 cases of hotel accommodation overpricing had been registered across the country in cities selected to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup’s matches.

According to the watchdog, the total sum of fines has surpassed 8.7 million rubles, or more than 140,870 US dollars.

The agency said it had checked more 18,500 hotels to uncover 704 cases of hotel accommodation overpricing. Fifty-five such cases were exposed during the past week.

As many as 173 hotels have been found to have no classification certificates.

The consumer protection watchdog said it had conducted more than 1,500 checks where it ended up finding some 1,800 administrative violations.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in less than a month with the opening match in the Russian capital of Moscow.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia