Hotels in Beijing are slashing room rates for next month’s Olympics as the demand for hotel rooms are not as high as expected. It’s reported that some hotels are cutting their price by 10-30% as demand falters, but I think the price cut came a bit too late.
While the tighter security and visa rules have contributed the lower demands, the hotel businesses should really blame themselves for overambitious pricing at the very beginning.
I had been planning in 2007 to visit Beijing during the Olympics, but gave up the idea because of the high accommodation cost. Some of the three-star hotels were charging USD200 per night, which was quite outrageous by any standard. As much as I wanted to be at the Beijing Olympics, I’m not ready to being ripped off like that… and I believe there are lots of other foreigners who are being scared off by the price as well.
It’s not the end of the day for these hotels though, despite a lower-than-expected occupancy, they should still be able to make handsome profits because of the high pricing. But overall, I’m afraid it’s the country’s image that is being dampened… the Chinese should see the Olympics to promote China to the world, and not just a short term event to bank in some money.
