To save the energy of students who would otherwise have to travel a long way between exam sites and home for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination held from June 7-8, parents have booked hotel rooms to ensure them a good night's rest.

However, the increase in booking recently has sparked huge price hikes among hotels, some of which have raised their prices 600 percent, with some rooms priced as high as 3,000 yuan (US$457) per night.

Moreover, many hotels have cancelled their hourly room-booking service during the two days.

The price of a hotel room near the prestigious Beijing No.4 High School has surged from 1,500 yuan on June 2 to 2,508 yuan. The cost of hotel rooms adjacent to the High School Affiliated to Renmin University in Beijing has risen by 1,100 yuan since they called their rooms "abodes for those who will secure top positions with the highest scores in the exam." Rooms which are considered comfortable and auspicious sold out very quickly.

In Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, the price of a 10-square-meter room in a hostel has climbed to 400 yuan overnight and one hotel with 442 rooms said that 360 of them had been booked for Gaokao participants almost immediately after test sites were announced.

The prices of some hotel rooms in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, have grown six folds from 98 yuan to 688 yuan.

An official from Jinan's administration of price monitoring said that hotels can raise prices in accordance with market signals as long as the customers are aware of the prices before the transaction.

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