Karaoke bars in Shanghai have raised their prices and residents will have to pay at least 100 yuan (US$12.80) more per hour to sing in karaoke bars at night over the Christmas weekend, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

From Friday to Sunday, the Luwan outlet of Cashbox will charge customers 104 yuan to 124 yuan an hour more than usual from 8pm. By late Thursday night, the maximum hourly price for a medium-sized room will be 296 yuan and the price on Friday night will be 430 yuan an hour after 8 PM.

To order a big room in Melody KTV this weekend, customers will have to pay 305 yuan for one hour. The old price was 175 yuan an hour.

Despite the surging prices, the room booking rates this weekend in some local karaoke bars are still very high. More than 80 percent of the rooms owned by a local entertainment company have already been booked for Christmas Eve, the newspaper reported.

Most KTV bars in Shanghai won't be offering any promotional activities, such as discounts, during the period, the report said.

Karaoke is a popular entertainment in the city. Over the Christmas holidays, many people and companies will hold their Christmas parties in KTV bars.

(Shanghai Daily December 20, 2006)