There don't seem to be a lot of good Olympic discussion boards out there--you might try gamesbids.com and search their forums for threads of interest. There is a pretty good ongoing thread on getting tickets, and some insiders on a couple of National Olympic Committees contribute to it. I'm a USA expat resident in Beijing, and my take on the entire situation is a bit atypical: I think that the number of foreigners travelling to Beijing as private spectators (i.e. not Olympic officials, heads-of-state and accompanying lackeys, reporters, etc.) is not going to be as large as expected. Biggest reason? Can't get event tickets! The situation is tough, tough, tough no matter your country! I think Cosport sold nearly all of its allotments for all countries it represents in about 18 hours. So far, doesn't seem as if Beijing ticketing will follow the pattern of past Games. I don't think there will be a lot of last minute tickets and scalping will happen relatively privately, though it will occur. Without guaranteed tickets to enough events to make the travel expense worthwhile, why bother? As a result, I'm taking the opposite position on accommodations--I think Beijing will be awash in extra rooms and this will become apparent around April or May. Then prices should start to come down as reality sets in, except in the luxury properties that are already block-booked for officials, package holders, etc. I do think international flights into Beijing will be a problem, as there isn't enough capacity through most of the year right now. (Aside: try Shenyang or Tianjin as a backdoor to Beijing--they are not far away and are well connected by domestic flight or train--Tianjin by high-speed beginning next spring.) And I suspect that domestic flights and sleeper train tickets will get heavy demand from non-Beijingers coming up for the Games.