jiejie

Sobay, I live here and have a bunch of extra tickets to various events. Contact me by email please (not PM): jiejiebigsis(at)yahoo(dot)com and you can see if anything I have grabs you. Make sure you put something in the subject title like "flyertalk" or "FT" so I give it priority for response. But don't dally. Note: this offer is also open to any Flyertalker who is in Beijing RIGHT NOW. I currently am not doing any long-distance transactions, only face-to-face in Beijing.

crnk

Yes, I pulled up the same HIX rate recently too. I'm still being lazy and haven't booked, since I'm still working out details. I guess some people might be going more last minute now, but I bet that most people have hotels, and that most Chinese wouldn't stay at HIX or other western chains.

iahphx

They also have a nasty cancel policy -- several weeks in advance (like now). So you're pretty much stuck once you book. No opportunity to switch if another deal comes down the pike.

My experience with Olympics is that the prices always come down. And the fact that tons of hotel rooms are still open will certainly help. I do have this feeling that many Beijing hotels will not lower their rates though so as not to antagonize the guests already booked at the obscene prices.

FWIW, I did try some very low ball priceline bids (like $70 for a 4 star and $50 for a 3 star, and did not get hit).

tom911

U.S. swimmers picked up their Olympic wardrobe at San Jose State yesterday:

SWIMMING IN SWAG
Athletes get free wardrobe fit for Beijing

Nice photo of Natalie, too.

iahphx

Not surprisingly, an active ticket sales market has now sprung up on ebay.

Demand does not look huge, but prices seem high. I doubt this is a good "economical" way to buy tickets. For something like this, there's almost always going to be someone who will bid more than "it's worth." Heck, for even simple items, I usually find it cheaper to buy direct from a web seller than bid on ebay.

RichardInSF

FYI, from the email Shangri-La hotel newsletter:

"Note: By the way, only for Golden Circle members - if you need rooms during the Olympics period, Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing, still has [a] few rooms available for last-minute bookers." (No rates quoted in the newsletter)

This was at the tail end of a long article listing reasons why people should go to the Olympics.

johnep1

I just started to consider going to the Olympics but won't know if I'm going to Beijing until 30 minutes before the flight leaves. Should I end up in Beijing, will there be anyway to just show up at some events and buy tickets, either at the box office or from scalpers? I usually just buy tickets from scalpers when attending sporting events in the US, but have no idea how that sort of thing works in China.

Also, are Chinese embassies in the US (specifically the DC location) enforcing the plane ticket and hotel reservation requirement to get a Visa? I have 2 expired Chinese visas in my passport and don't believe I had to show any proof of plane ticket or hotel reservation to get those.

Thanks.

iahphx

They are indeed enforcing the rule. It sounds like you are an airline employee or have some sort of "buddy pass" as a friend of an employee. Not sure how these rules would work for you.

It does seem like there would be plenty of standby space available for travel during the Olympics. CO says the Olympics aren't good for their Beijing business, and last I looked there were award seats available for some flights.

If you can solve your visa dilemna, it wouldn't be a bad time to drop in on Beijing. Getting a hotel room should be no big problem, but you may have to do some detective work (kayak's a good place to start) to find reasonable value. My guess is that event tickets will also be available at a price a Westerner will find OK, so long as you skip certain sports like swimming and diving.

johnep1

Good guess on the "buddy pass" front. You are correct about that. It's fun to show up at the airport not knowing if you're going to PEK, EZE, FCO, or somewhere else.

As for getting to/from PEK during the Olympics, there is lots of business class space IAD-PEK but the flights PEK-IAD during the Olympics are often oversold by 100 since there are lots of people who will no-show. But still there's lots of business class space. However, if the embassy is enforcing the plane ticket rule, I might be out of luck since I will have no ticket. Maybe a print-out of from UA's internal site showing I'm listed on the flights will work. If not, I hear AMS is nice in August.

moondog

You needn't worry about a specific flight because ANY inbound reservation (i.e. the cost to you is none greater than the value of the 5 minutes it takes to book something and print) will please the visa people.

iahphx

Correct. And I believe you could go to the super8.com website and book a "dummy" hotel reservation without credit card for Beijing pretty easily.

When I went to the Chicago consulate for my visa, the official did look through "my paperwork" but didn't require me to have a hotel room booked for every night. But if you're making dummy reservations, you might as well do it right. Just make sure you're really going, though. The price of a China visa these days is not inconsequential, especially if you need one rushed or use a service.

tom911

All 7 of our visas were picked up on Friday at the consulate in San Francisco (4 day turnaround). Glad that's out of the way.

alicesantamonica

Johnep 1-I just got my 3rd visa last week at the LA consulate and they never asked for hotel or airline info. I waited less than 5 minutes each time (to drop off my passport and to pick up my passport with the current visa). I’ve never seen so few people at the consulate. If the consulate traffic is any indication, the number of people going to China is way down during this time period. I’ve also been able to change our airline tickets several times so there’s availability on flights also. I also got visas for my hubby and friends over the past two years and was never asked for any info for them either. But that may just be the LA office. I also think it won’t be difficult to get tickets once you’re over there to some of the events. Someone’s always got extra tickets, especially at the last minute.

NePlusUltra

Anyone have any idea as to where to get olympic tickets right now besides ebay?

jiejie

Assuming you are not in Beijing right now to do face-to-face transactions, your best bet is to go to a LEGITIMATE ticket broker that has a track record of reliability, and order from them with delivery/pickup in Beijing. And pay with a credit card to get some protection against fraud and dissatisfaction. Note that even from brokers, some events are basically unavailable at almost any price...swimming being the most notorious and gymnastics, diving also very very difficult. Others, such as athletics, are being sold pretty much at face value, if the brokers have surplus tickets after they filled their preorders. Just try to avoid a broker that adds on a ridiculously high fulfillment charge or other bogus fee. And get an assurance that the tickets are actually on hand in their inventory, in Beijing. (I met with a couple of different broker reps from USA last week, and they have most of their tickets sitting here in Beijing already in their makeshift "war rooms.")