By: Press Release
Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au
Category: Hotel News
Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au
Category: Hotel News
Some innkeepers will be charging Ritz rates for Fawlty Towers rooms - and they will get away with it.
A
limited hotel supply and unprecedented demand from almost a million
tourists, media and businesspeople tied to the London Games means that
accommodation in the British capital - never a bargain to start with -
is more expensive than ever.
That guarantees a bumper year for
London's hotel and rental sectors, but a nightmare for those who have
been dragging their feet on making sleeping arrangements.Already,
many central London hotels are fully booked from mid-July to
mid-August, and those that still have rooms available now charge
anything from double to four times more than their normal rates.
"It's almost too late now to get into central London," said Miles Quest, a spokesman for the British Hospitality Association."(Visitors) need to look outside the central area, where rooms will clearly be cheaper."
It's
too good a business opportunity to miss, and hoteliers aren't the only
ones cashing in. Vacation rental agencies and websites have reported a
massive boom in business, with many homeowners planning to stay with
friends or go abroad so they can rent out their homes.
"There was a
massive increase in traffic as soon as 2012 turned - it was overnight.
It was really crazy," said Matthew Parker, who is doing a brisk trade on
his website Londonrentmyhouse.com, a matchmaking service for
enterprising people looking to rent out their homes and visitors seeking
a short-term stay.
"The site is taking adverts every day, we're
into the thousands now and many more to come. Homeowners are really
grabbing the idea and running with it," he added.
It's easy to see
why. London tourism officials expect about 900,000 Olympics-related
visitors - including athletes, their families, staff, journalists, and
tourists - to London this northern summer, all needing a bed. That's on
top of the 1.5 million tourists London typically sees every August.Even
with many new hotels springing up all over the capital, there are only
about 110,000 hotel rooms in the London area - and almost a third of
those have been allocated to Olympic personnel.
Tourism officials
have brushed off the shortage, insisting that London has more rooms and a
bigger range of sleeping options than any other Olympic host city has
been able to offer.They have also been encouraging visitors to
research alternatives like hostels, bed-and-breakfast inns and
university dorm rooms.
Still, they acknowledge they are not in a
position to do anything about what Tessa Jowell, an opposition lawmaker,
has called a "scandal of extortionate price rises".A recent
survey by London-based international booking website Hotels.com
suggested that the average London hotel room rate has doubled for the
Olympic period compared to last year, but it's clear in many cases the
jump is much steeper.
At the Travelodge in Stratford, the budget
chain's property next to the Olympic Stadium, room prices have shot up
from a modest 50 pounds ($80) per night to 274 pounds ($437) in late
July."The prices aren't going to come down," said Hotels.com president David Roche.It's
not that hoteliers are all greedy, he added - some owners are just
looking to the Olympics to recover losses amid a sluggish British
economy.
"Many hoteliers are looking at the Olympics to save them," he said.
"They're wondering when the good times are going to roll again."
Prices
in the vacation rental market can be lower, since more and more flats
and houses are coming onto the market as more homeowners and landlords
realise the potential to make some quick cash.Rental costs vary
wildly: As low as 75 pounds ($120) for a room in someone's flat, to
20,000 pounds (nearly $32,000) a week for a luxury central London
townhouse. Many people are asking four times more than the normal rent,
Parker said.
There's evidently demand to sustain such high prices.
"I'm
booked for the entire Olympic period," said Marina Usher Mazur, who is
renting her three-bedroom second home in Notting Hill to two American
families for 6000 pounds ($9550) a week. That's more than double her
normal rate, but she still received more than 30 responses.
"I had a couple people say, you're crazy. But it went pretty easily," she said.
"I was amazed at how many people were interested."
It's
not impossible to find budget options, though, as long as visitors are
prepared to commute. Kent and Essex, for example, are to the east in the
Greater London area, and have good connections to the Olympic Park.
Events will be taking part across all corners of the capital, so taking
the time to research transport links will help determine which suburb to
choose from."Many events are held outside east London," Roche
said. "If you know where you're going, there's no need to stay in
central London."
Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/london-olympics/hotels-seek-new-heights-with-games/story-fn9dheyx-1226350505446
