Bud Florida

I'll be attending the Olympics for pleasure and could use some guidance on how best to obtain airfare.
I have 350,000+ miles on Delta (mostly through credit card purchases). I'll be traveling from Tampa to Shanghai first mainly because I'd like to see the city and at this point the selection is slim straight into Beijing the day before the start of the games. My plan is to fly ATL/PVG using 240,000 SkyMiles (2 people).Then to book the PVG/PEK flight through a travel agent along with my return (PEK/TPA).
Could anyone assist me with anyway to improve this plan?
Thanks

sniles

PVG/SHA flights to PEK at that time (day before start of games) are likely to be hard to get (even through local travel agents) and will be overpriced. Get them ahead of time if you can. And you may want to look into the overnight train from Shanghai to Beijing if flights are hard to find.

Note: I'm already seeing 300% price increases for international flights (CN-US) during that period when booking through local travel agents.

iahphx

I looked a few weeks ago and saw nothing unusual about the Shanghai-Beijing airfares during the Olympics. Has that actually changed?

Since "nobody" in China seems to plan their trips more than a few weeks in advance, I figured I had plenty of time to decie on my Olympic itinerary.

So when are we going to read the first stories of a "hotel glut" for the Olympics? My guess is late June, but that's a wild guess. I think the number of foreign visitors (not in the official "Olympic family" or the media) will be small -- perhaps less than the normal tourist numbers.

crnk

Too funny! Yeah, I would agree that we are generally safe to not book stuff yet, I don't have transportation or hotel arranged yet. I think the hotel glut will come may-june, and possibly be noted when new hotels open up (starwood has 2 for july i think). I think there are too many places like Cosport who think they can get 8 grand for a room for the whole games...
Good news is that while I don't have transport, I heard something about a family friend with an apt being out of town for the month and a possible rental opportunity....

sniles

Perhaps you can still find some deals, but i just looked at ctrip.com and elong.com and found the 30% and 50% discounts (usually available throughout the year) available for dates in july and september, but not in august.

moondog

Good evening, all. I just returned from Easter dinner at a friend's house, during which I mentioned the possibility of him renting it out during the Olympics. He is interested in this option because he could simply sweat it out at his wife's dad's house for several weeks and devote the proceeds towards his childrens' tuition.

Anyway, he has a two floor unit at the top of a 4-year old building ~3.5 km south of Guomao just outside of 3rd Ring (not ideal by any means, but I did make it back home in 12 minutes). It's 250 sq. m. plus 30 sq. m. of loft/garden space. I dare say it would sleep 8 comfortably. He's also willing to throw in his minivan and his ayi. No smoking.

If any of you are interested, please PM me and I'll send you his email address.

Josanna

I really hope you get a better deal than me. I have prepaid reservation at a new Hilton which isn't even open yet and paid $7K US IN ADVANCE for 9 nights.

I'm going to Thailand on points prior to Beijing since we didn't get Opening Ceremonies to cut costs!

moondog

I think you did ok, given the current market (which isn't to say that my evaluation won't be different in several months). A friend of mine is in charge of planning a VIP delegation for a Fortune 500 company and she paid $1,500 per night for the Trader's (a 4 star Shangri-La) plus a minum spend F&B spend of $200.... for 200 rooms. Openning Cermony tickets now command $1000 a piece; we've been given a few, but we plan on passing them on to important clients simply because they're goodwill currency value is higher than their value to us.

rdchen

On the bright side, you'll receive enough HH points for a GLONP2 (25x7,000=175,000, assuming you have a HH AMEX). OTOH, for those whom have PC points to burn, there are still 3 HI & HIX accepting award reservation (only 10-15k/night).

BobCharlap

Are you saying you found Hilton HHonors awards in Beijing around olympic times?
They told me it was "super" blacked out. Even if you were Diamond level!
Let me know if you found a work around as we are headed there for a week July 25-31.
thanks.

rdchen

I think Josanna was referring to prepaid stay at either of the two soon to be opened Hilton & Doubletree in BJ.

rdchen

Just checked, Hilton Beijing has plenty of award availabilities for July 25-31.

BobCharlap

Again my fellow FT'ers come through with the info!
Just booked Beijing Hilton award for our vacation.
I swear last month they told me everything was "blacked out" starting July 25th.

thanks again,

Bob

* now I need to keep reading to figure out our day trips while we are there!

jiejie

On the subject of Olympic event ticketing, Cosport (for residents of US, Canada, Australia, + some others), will start the Phase III online sale on March 31. Check out website www.cosport.com

Also, be sure to check on the Terms and Conditions page on the left side submenu, as there is a new twist to quantity limits. Note that Phase III tickets will have to be picked up in Beijing at the Cosport office, as there will no option for shipping to your home (or alternate) address.

BF263533

Is anyone canceling their trip to the Beijing Olympics due to the violence and deaths in Tibet?