Brazil's tourism board said that "it has officially told FIFA and hotel operators to negotiate lowering prices during the 2014 World Cup," according to Tales Azzoni of the AP. The request came just days after a study showed that room rates will be up to 500% more expensive during the World Cup "in some hotels offered by the FIFA-appointed agency MATCH Services." The tourism board, known as Embratur, said MATCH and the hotels need to find a way to reverse the "stratospheric increase" of rates announced for the World Cup period next year. MATCH said it had not yet received the request, but would "welcome any attempt the government would make to help us lower prices and would fully support such initiatives." In the document sent to FIFA and the hotel operators, Embratur also said that "MATCH should change the current policy on blocking rooms and should reduce its mark-up rates." The document, obtained exclusively by the AP said, "We propose that the companies involved conduct new rounds of negotiations to lead to a restructuring of the prices" (AP, 8/20).
