U.K. and Ireland - London hotels during the Olympics

London hotels are persisting with sharp price rises during the Olympics, despite the fact that more than a third of rooms remain unsold.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9319834/London-hotels-persist-with-Olympian-price-hikes.html

I'm sure there was a story a week ago saying that hotels were cutting rates by 30% for the olympics now, but the Telegraph is getting a bit sensationalist in its reporting so I'm not surprised they've omitted this key fact!

Similar situation at the 2010 Winters in Vancouver.

The local IOC contracted for all (or most) of the rooms at inflated rates. As the time approached any many remained unbooked more and more were 'released' from the contract and became available at whatever the hotel wanted to charge. In the end these late rooms didn't command much of an additional premium.

Don't know the details in London but I'd bet the rates will continue to fall; to the chagrin of those who booked early. Gouging you say?

I agree with others. The outlying hotels will start discounting first and city centre hotels will wait as long as possible but will discount.

They'll also be more rooms opening up as corporate sponsors cut back on their needs and ticket sellers unload their rooms being held for ticket/room packages.

I agree with others. The outlying hotels will start discounting first and city centre hotels will wait as long as possible but will discount.

They'll also be more rooms opening up as corporate sponsors cut back on their needs and ticket sellers unload their rooms being held for ticket/room packages.

Interestingly, my understanding is that Thomas Cook can NOT split its 'ticket and room' packages, under the terms of its contract with LOCOG. What it can do, though, is include any old hotel room, so apparently they might start advertising 'ticket only' deals, and when your ticket arrives you will get a voucher for 1 night in a one-star in Rotherham included!

Some of the foreign ticket agencies are already splitting their hotel and ticket packages - I bought some tickets from the French without the hotel, and today got an email saying that if I only wanted a hotel, they had those!

I've been noticing more availability and price drops. I'm still sticking with the original hotel I booked at this point, because it's still the best deal I can find, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for better deals.

The problem I see with the Olympics is that so many tickets are being held only for the Europeans. For example, my wife, daughter and myself have tickets for the Olympics. We wanted to get tickets to the new "Orbit" but the Olympic Committee has not released any Orbit tickets to non-UK countries. So we are out of luck (they do say we can possibly buy "day of" tickets when we get there but should not count on it!).

As for hotels, we were very lucky and were able to book the Sheraton Park Lane on points. Can't beat that for a good price.