Popular hotels like this one in Nanluguoxiang have an early reservation list. 

Although the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics is still eight months away, local hotels are already taking reservations.

Hotels expect that during the Games, about one million domestic visitors and 500,000 foreign tourists will come to Beijing.

Star-graded Beijing hotels have many reservations. Family hotels, which might not be comparable to star-graded ones, still remain appealing to some visitors for their comfort.

Official reception hotels

Beijing Olympic organizers unveiled 132 official reception hotels for next year’s Games last Friday. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said 120 contracted hotels are in Beijing with 38 being five-star hotels, 45 four-star, 22 three-star and 15 not yet rated. The hotels supply about 30,000 rooms in total.

BOCOG said the average room rate for a double room in a five-star hotel is 2,799 yuan, 2,155 yuan in a four-star hotel. The three-star hotel charge is 1,466 yuan with two-star hotels at 980 yuan per day.

The other 12 official reception hotels are in six co-host cities, including Hong Kong, Shenyang, Tianjin, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao and Shanghai.

Budget hotels

For most tourists, the high-priced official reception hotels are out of range. They are trying to find reasonably-priced hotels for the Olympics and budget hotels are the popular choice. Currently there are nearly 200 budget hotels in Beijing providing a total of 13,000 rooms.

Several budget hotels such as Home Inns, Super 8, the Jinjiang Inn and 7 Days Inn have started accepting reservations. Prices range from hundreds to thousands depending mostly on the inn's location. Jinjiang Inn provides Olympic rooms from 399 yuan to 699 yuan per day for their members. Super 8 and Home Inns offer Olympic rooms from 999 to 2,500 yuan per day.

Some hotels say they have received group room reservation for the Olympic Games and predict that single reservations will peak this March and April.

Home-stay inns

Many local families do not want to miss out on a golden business opportunity during the Olympics. Many have advertised their vacant rooms online and the price is not cheap.

At present, an ordinary home-stay inn with one bedroom located in the downtown Beijing area usually costs around 1,500-2,000 yuan per month. During the Games, many of these vacant rooms will be rented out, and some may charge as much as 1,000 yuan per night. It means that, in less than one month during the Olympic period, the room can make money equal to a year's rental fee. There are currently five home-stay agencies online accepting Olympic room reservations now.

Two of them, "Homestay Beijing 2008" and "China Homestay," are operated by a group of expats living in Beg. According to China Homestay manager Jacob Cooke, they have 556 spaces remaining for next August. The fee is US $800 per person for the entire four-week period, with a maximum of two guests per house.

Homestay Beijing 2008, run by Piet Dos, a Dutchman living in Beijing, has 200 different homestay accommodations available and all its hosts speak English.

Links

homestaybeijing2008.com

chinahomestay.org

olymhomtel.com/cn

2008bay.com

2008inn.com

(Beijing Today January 14, 2008)