Qatar World Cup officials offer REFUNDS and new accommodation to fans staying in metal containers
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Qatar World Cup officials are offering full refunds and new accommodation to irate football fans who have been staying in ‘rip off’ £185 a night metal containers.
Football fans arrived at Fan Villages in Doha in the lead up to the big football tournament – only to find migrant workers still completing the corrugated box rooms.
Garbage also continued to pile up around the containers, as fans complained about cramped rooms in their small rooms and waiting too long to check in.
Last night, a crowd of guests waiting in line at the Free Zone Fan Village said they couldn’t get their room because the front desk wasn’t sure who had already checked in.
But now Qatari officials have offered disgruntled fans a full refund and alternative accommodation.
Qatar Supreme Committee officials blamed the delays in fan check-in and poor standards on “owner and operator negligence.”
Qatar World Cup officials are offering full refunds and new accommodation to irate football fans who have been staying in ‘rip off’ £185 a night metal containers. Pictured: Rubbish is piled up in the accommodation base of Fan Village Cabins Rawdat Al Jahhaniya on Tuesday
An uninstalled toilet was seen in the accommodation base of Fan Village Cabins Rawdat Al Jahhaniya on Tuesday
Much of the accommodation marketed to World Cup fans was still incomplete on arrival
Fans have complained that they are cramped in their small rooms and that they have to wait too long to check in
A spokesman for Qatar’s Supreme Committee told MailOnline: ‘We are aware that a number of fans have experienced delays in checking into selected Fan Village properties due to owner and operator negligence.
“Some of the units in these facilities, which are provided and operated by various private entities, did not meet the required standards advertised to fans.”
The spokesperson added: ‘While these sites are operated by independent commercial entities, resolving these issues remains the highest priority for the Supreme Committee.
“Full refunds will be offered to fans who have been severely impacted by this issue, as well as alternative accommodation that will be free for the duration of their stay.”
The Rawdat All Jahhaniya Fan Village was still under construction on Tuesday, despite the tournament having started days earlier.
Uninstalled toilets and garbage were still scattered around the camp, drawing the ire of many fans.
Some cabins were still completely unfurnished when fans arrived earlier this week.
Toilets without water were piled up outside as workers hammered together and drilled cheap flat-pack beds and wardrobes to furnish them.
“When we went to our room, it was all a mess,” Aman Mohammed, a 23-year-old from Kolkata, India, said in the common room on Wednesday.
He said he had waited two hours in the blazing sun the day before for a cleaning lady to come. “It smelled so bad, like a bad bathroom. It was pathetic.’
Painters were still finishing, while others were doing the wiring at the electrical point
Black bags of rubble and rubbish were dumped at the rear of the site, but were highly visible to visitors
Fans complained they were cramped and were being ‘ripped off’ at prices of around £185 per cabin per night
Another fan, Milad Mahmooditar, 32, from Tehran, arrived at the Rawdat All Jahhaniya fan camp to find his cramped container surrounded by rubbish.
He said, “It’s ridiculous that I have to pay so much money to stay in this can.
‘I’m six feet tall and my bed is too small. There is no room to move and the air conditioning is so noisy that you can’t sleep.
‘The bathroom isn’t really a bathroom and you can hardly move without falling over the table or kicking the bed.
“I paid about $200 a night and I know I can get a five star full board hotel for $100.
“This is not the way to treat visitors from any country. We paid so much money to come here.
‘I’m a businessman, but I’m not rich. I spent a lot of money coming here and I expect to be treated much better than this.
“I’m sorry about this and I’m angry. Maybe it’s ok for the Qatari people who are rich and live in luxury houses. Me, this is not okay.’
World Cup fans have complained about ‘rip off’ metal container accommodation at £185 a night amid piles of rubbish and rubble in Qatar
Qatar’s frenzied building program has yielded tens of thousands of rooms through new hotels, rented apartments and even three giant cruise ships.
But rising prices have forced many thrifty fans to remote desert campsites and giant fan villages in the outskirts of Doha.
Images and photos showed piles of rubble and sand, torn sod and industrial machinery still present in the Rawdat Al Jahhaniya fan village, which will be home to thousands of England and Wales fans for the World Cup.
Besides abandoned forklift trucks and an excavator next to hundreds of shipping containers, promised amenities such as a cinema screen and tennis court are also not present, according to The Guardian.
The ‘fitness centre/gym’ appears to be some outdoor equipment close to the main entrance and road of the fan village, which is operated by the operator Al Emadi and next to the Ahmad bin Ali stadium.
The newspaper also reported that next to a tent, which will be used as a mosque during the tournament, is a giant crater, while a portable Starbucks bus and a large tented dining room will cater for the hungry football fans.
In the cabins, which open on Friday and cost £185 a night for a double cabin for two people, small air-conditioning units fail to cool the room during the day and rattle too loudly at night to be useful.
Those who pay to stay at the Rawdat Al Jahhaniya accommodation, which can accommodate as many as 60,000 people, can look forward to a spartan interior with two single beds or a double bed, toilet, mini-fridge and tea and coffee making facilities.
It’s the latest pre-tournament controversy that has already sparked complaints of cracks and holes in the stadium grounds and a last-minute U-turn to ban beer from stadiums that has enraged fans.
More than a million people are expected to descend on the tiny desert peninsula — not counting a population of just 300,000 expatriates and migrant workers — during the tournament, which will run for nearly a month from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18.