"Bandits and swindlers" are undermining Ukraine's Euro 2012 preparations by pushing accommodation prices up to exorbitant levels, UEFA president Michel Platini said today.
Hotels in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv, the four Ukrainian host cities, have hiked prices in some cases more than 10-fold.
Talking to reporters during a visit to Lviv, Platini said "bandits and swindlers who want to earn a lot of money" could keep fans away from Ukraine.
"You cannot raise prices from €40 to €100 to €500 from one day to the next," added the president of European soccer's ruling body. "That is just not done."
Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich this month ordered his government to investigate price hikes and ensure hotel rates are at an "economically reasonable" level during the championship.
"We will be preparing to the last night and will welcome (guests and participants) the way it should be done," Mr Yanukovich said in a statement today.
The cheapest Lviv hotel listed on UEFA's championship website as available for the Germany-Portugal match on June 9th charges €195 per night. For the Ukraine-Sweden match on June 11th in Kiev, offers start at €104.
A tent camp set up 35-km away from Kiev plans to charge €30 per night. Ukraine, tournament co-hosts along with Poland, has invested billions of dollars in Euro preparations and hopes to gain a return in the form of increased tourist traffic.
Reuters