Right Now, Sleeping in Warsaw Is More Expensive Than in Monaco

Prices have risen as a result of the refugee influx from Ukraine. Dramatically.

Levi Borba

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Volunteers helping refugees in the Przemyśl train station, Poland.
Volunteers helping refugees in the Przemyśl train station, Poland. Pakkin Leung, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I promised myself not to post any rant on Medium regarding the war in Ukraine, which is only 2 hours away from here…

On the other hand, this has nothing to do with the war, but rather with:

  • A few words of praise for the Polish people’s enormous hospitality in receiving Europe’s largest refugee wave since World War II.
  • A rant against a very small percentage of people, who happen to be entrepreneurs in the same industry as me, who are shamelessly exploiting the situation and ripping off refugees.
  • A very useful piece of advice for refugees on how to find more affordable accommodation Poland if they need it.

How Many Refugees Has Poland Taken

As Stefan Tompson, a Polish writer, explained:

Poland, a country of 38 million people, has just taken in a million refugees from Ukraine in just 10 days. To put it into perspective:
That’s like the State of California and it’s 39 million inhabitants taking in every single resident of Austin, Texas, in under a fortnight.
Or that’s like every single inhabitant of Birmingham…

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