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At the end of June I wrote about how the expected hotel operator Olympic cash bonanza does not look like happening. More recent articles doing the rounds in the press are further pushing that point.

In what is good news for visitors to the China Olympics the prices for hotel rooms seem to be coming down as the opening ceremony approaches. Many hotels had more than tripled their normal rates hoping to cash in on the summer games tourist rush. It has obviously had a serious effect on numbers making their way to Beijing to watch the games.

Zhang Ting, sales manager for the Zhongyu Century Grand Hotel said “Bookings are so low that we have no choice but to cut prices”.

I wonder how this makes people feel that have booked through the official ticket and accommodation provider CoSport. About six months ago I was looking on that site at the price of packages including tickets and a hotel room and the prices seemed to be highly inflated.

Sports fans thinking about a last minute vacation in the Olympic city should be able to take advantage of the lower than expected hotel room rates in Beijing. Even if tickets are not available the atmosphere in the city should be worth the visit.

Beijing officials have said they expected around 450 000 to 500 000 foreign visitors during the games with an additional one million Chinese visitors heading to Beijing.

The higher hotel prices have been blamed for keeping the numbers down from what was predicted.

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Tourists flying into Beijing airport now have the choice of taking the subway from the airport into the city. This comes about following the opening of three new subway lines on 19 July 2008.

The subway line running from Beijing Capital Airport is 28km long with 4 stations stretching from Dongzhimen to the airport. The maximum running speed of the train is 110km/h. Despite being more than ten times the normal subway fare the ride from the airport is still reasonably priced at 25 yuan. With the exchange rate of 1 USD = 6.82848 CNY as at 21 July that equals USD3.66

Subway Line 10 (Phase I) and the Olympic Extension have also opened. The three new lines have a combined rail distance of 58km. This now brings the total track length in the Beijing subway system to 200km of tracks with 8 rail lines.

As an important subway line connecting the north and the east of Beijing, the Phase I Project of Subway Line 10 extends 25km long with 22 stops, and includes six interchange stations with connections to the No. 13 line, the Olympic extension, No.5 line, the Airport Express Line, No.1 line, and No. 4 line. As such, Subway Line 10 can reach Beijing’s new development area Zhongguancun, the Beijing Olympic Center, the Asia Games Village and the CBD zone, as well as other key functional areas.

The Phase I Project of Subway Line 10 is important as it connects the north and the east of Beijing. Line 10 runs for 25km and includes 22 stops. The line is also an interchange for several lines and connects to no. 13 line, no. 5 line, the Olympic extension, the Airport Express Line, no 4 line and no. 1 line. Line 10 is an important line that has coverage of the new development area Zhongguancun, the Olympic Center and the CBD.

The new Olympic Extension line is 4.5km long in total with 4 stops. The starting stop, Beitucheng Station, is connected to the Olympic Green and the Olympic Central Zone. From 20 July only Olympic ticket holders for that day and and holders of registered certificates for the Beijing Olympics Games will be able to use the extension line.

The normal subway lines cost 2 yuan which with the exchange rate of 1 USD = 6.83386 as at 21 July is 29 US cents.

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There has been a bit of press coverage recently about how visitor numbers are down for visits to Beijing. For the month of May visitor numbers to Beijing, China were down by 15 per cent. This was the first drop in three years.

The reason for the drop is said to be as a result of the fallout from the Tibet situation and also the earthquake in Sichuan in May. On top of that the new visa rules are said to be keeping people away.

I recently applied for visas for myself and my wife and daughter to travel to China in August and we had no problems. It took four business days to get the visas. We had to show our flight details. Accommodation details and provide a wedding certificate to show that we really are married. Nothing to difficult.

The reduction in visitors is also expected to flow over into the China Olympic period. This comes as bad news for hotel developers expecting an Olympic bonanza. The embarked on a huge building program to cash in on the Olympic rush and also the flow on tourists that visit in the out years.

Many hotels were hoping to charge up to 10 times their normal rates during the Olympic period. Due to the downturn these prices are less likely, at least for tourists who are yet to make bookings.

This might be bad news for the hotel owners however it is actually good news for the everyday tourist. Prices will be at more reasonable levels.

Earlier today I searched the HotelsCombined hotel booking website to see how room rates are looking for the China Olympics. Hotels Combined makes it easy to compare prices as they already have data from over 30 popular booking sites in their database.

Using the Hotels Combined site I compared the room rates for the 8th-16 July with 12-16 August. That is Tuesday to Friday nights at the Beijing hotels.

I found that for the July period there are rooms available from an unbelievably low USD9 a night staying at the 9 Dragons House. I have not seen that hotel in person so I cannot vouch for its quality.

One hotel that I have stayed at in the past is the Landmark Hotel Beijing. It is located in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. The recently refurbished Hard Rock Cafe is in the same building. The price for July is USD100 per night and the availability status is “instant confirmation”. In August the site says there are rooms for USD141 per night which considering this is the Olympic period, is quite reasonable. The availability is “on request (24 hours)”. This may mean you actually do not get a room.

As another comparison for a Beijing hotel that I am familiar with I looked at Swissotel Hotel Beijing. It is a nice hotel located on the second ring road. In the July period the room rate was USD124 per night. This compares with the August period where the price is showing as USD160 per night. Once again this is reasonable.

If you are thinking of going to Beijing for the Olympics it is still not too late to at least experience the Olympic buzz associated with staying in a city as it hosts the Olympics. I am not sure how you will go with getting tickets into the events but you will still be able to find reasonably priced accommodation.

If you are thinking about it take action now. There are 40 day to go at the time of this post.

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