With every big event there are always opportunities for money to be made.

In fact, in many cases, it is the sole reason for hosting them, albeit they are disguised as something of greater virtue.

It happens every year during the Edinburgh Festivals and whenever the British Open Golf is held at a Scottish course or a big European football final is in town.

Hotel prices and air fares go up, like the school holidays premium on steroids.

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People vacate their home for a week or two and rent it out to visitors for a handsome fee and they head off on holiday, paid for with the proceeds.

The COP 26 in Glasgow is another such event on an even bigger scale and the opportunism on display in Glasgow is completely off the scale.

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For an event billed as the last chance to save the planet, you could say it is out of this world.

The clamour of hotels, B&Bs and short-term rental landlords to make a killing in Glasgow for the two weeks has been spectacular.

Eight grand a night for a two bedroom services apartment. It would need to be Buckingham Palace with a couple of footmen and Ladies-in-waiting to justify that price.

Another, more modest home advertised at around £500 a night promised the bed would be freshly made for your arrival.

Such lucky guests, whoever decides to book that little treat.

Another hotel which normally charges under £60 a night is asking for way more during COP 26.

In July, when the Glasgow Times checked prices, the Charing Cross Hotel jacked up its prices for a three night November booking to more than £1600.

Last week we checked back and it now wants £3818 for the same three nights.

You could expect to be well entertained during your say there if you booked it because the owners are certainly having laugh.

Capitalist economics is all about supply and demand and no doubt they can justify the price hikes because of the high demand and the shortage of hotel rooms in Glasgow during the summit when around 30,000 delegates will be attending the event at the SEC and many more with estimates of around 100,000 people coming to the city for associated events and mass demonstration and protests.

Or you could say it is naked greed and opportunism on the part of hotel and property owners looking for the chance to make a fast buck.

The hospitality sector was hit hard during the pandemic, hotels, if they weren’t used to house homeless people they were shut, and many worried they would go out of business.

So perhaps they can be cut some slack for trying to recoup a little of what they lost.

They are, however, not the only businesses who suffered big time during the lockdown.

Bars, cafes and restaurants, were shut and many did not survive.

Those who did will be open during the COP 26 summit and hoping for a boost in trade from the high number of visitors to the city.

Taxi drivers were seriously affected as with people not able to go anywhere they had no passengers.

They too can hope to have a busy two weeks and bring income much needed income.

What will not be happening is prices in bars and restaurants jacked up to the same extend as in some hotels and B&Bs.

Otherwise, people would be charged £20 a pint or £60 for a curry.

The other people who were hit hard during the lockdown was staff.

The good employers looked out for them and made use of the furlough scheme and have many of the same faces working in the kitchens, behind the bars and waiting on the tables as they had before the lockdown.

Others, when they had to pay some of the costs themselves laid them off.

The staff in the hospitality sector, often working long and late hours for lower than average pay, will not, you can pretty much guarantee, be getting paid the five, six or seven times more that hotels are attempting to charge.

It will still be minimum wage for many, even though they will be expected to work harder.

While it has been not surprising to see what some people are trying to charge during the COP, it has been disappointing to see that the naked greed and opportunism that existed before the pandemic is alive and well as we hopefully are beginning to emerge from it.

There is only one little nugget of hope in this episode.

And that is that with just two weeks to go until people start to flood into the city for the biggest event it has hosted, these places are still advertising.

Which means their get rich quick plan, they hatched when they saw that COP 26 was coming, has not yet materialised into the cold hard cash they envisioned.

Perhaps those who were a little more modest in their expectations of taking advantage of a seldom to be had opportunity will be rewarded and it helps to keep their business afloat and staff in employment.

And those who adhere to the greed is good philosophy have a door undarkened by those coming to COP with large corporate budgets behind them.