Popular hotels like this
one in Nanluguoxiang have an early reservation
list.
Although the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics is still eight months away, local
hotels are already taking reservations.
Hotels expect that during the Games, about one million domestic
visitors and 500,000 foreign tourists will come to Beijing.
Star-graded Beijing hotels have many reservations. Family
hotels, which might not be comparable to star-graded ones, still
remain appealing to some visitors for their comfort.
Official reception hotels
Beijing Olympic organizers unveiled 132 official reception
hotels for next year’s Games last Friday. The Beijing Organizing
Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said 120 contracted hotels
are in Beijing with 38 being five-star hotels, 45 four-star, 22
three-star and 15 not yet rated. The hotels supply about 30,000
rooms in total.
BOCOG said the average room rate for a double room in a
five-star hotel is 2,799 yuan, 2,155 yuan in a four-star hotel. The
three-star hotel charge is 1,466 yuan with two-star hotels at 980
yuan per day.
The other 12 official reception hotels are in six co-host
cities, including Hong Kong, Shenyang, Tianjin, Qingdao,
Qinhuangdao and Shanghai.
Budget hotels
For most tourists, the high-priced official reception hotels are
out of range. They are trying to find reasonably-priced hotels for
the Olympics and budget hotels are the popular choice. Currently
there are nearly 200 budget hotels in Beijing providing a total of
13,000 rooms.
Several budget hotels such as Home Inns, Super 8, the Jinjiang
Inn and 7 Days Inn have started accepting reservations. Prices
range from hundreds to thousands depending mostly on the inn's
location. Jinjiang Inn provides Olympic rooms from 399 yuan to 699
yuan per day for their members. Super 8 and Home Inns offer Olympic
rooms from 999 to 2,500 yuan per day.
Some hotels say they have received group room reservation for
the Olympic Games and predict that single reservations will peak
this March and April.
Home-stay inns
Many local families do not want to miss out on a golden business
opportunity during the Olympics. Many have advertised their vacant
rooms online and the price is not cheap.
At present, an ordinary home-stay inn with one bedroom located
in the downtown Beijing area usually costs around 1,500-2,000 yuan
per month. During the Games, many of these vacant rooms will be
rented out, and some may charge as much as 1,000 yuan per night. It
means that, in less than one month during the Olympic period, the
room can make money equal to a year's rental fee. There are
currently five home-stay agencies online accepting Olympic room
reservations now.
Two of them, "Homestay Beijing 2008" and "China Homestay," are
operated by a group of expats living in Beg. According to China
Homestay manager Jacob Cooke, they have 556 spaces remaining for
next August. The fee is US $800 per person for the entire four-week
period, with a maximum of two guests per house.
Homestay Beijing 2008, run by Piet Dos, a Dutchman living in
Beijing, has 200 different homestay accommodations available and
all its hosts speak English.
Links
homestaybeijing2008.com
chinahomestay.org
olymhomtel.com/cn
2008bay.com
2008inn.com
(Beijing Today January 14, 2008)
