Beijing hotels slash rates as expected Olympic demand falters
BEIJING —
A travel agent says some hotels in Beijing have slashed their rates by 10 to 20% as expected high demand for the Olympic Games has not materialized.
Fan Runjun, an employee of the press department of popular travel Web site Ctrip.com, said Tuesday many two to four-star hotels have cut their rates by 10-20% compared to May and June. She said some have cut rates by up to 30%.
The website’s English site deals with around 500 hotels.
China has ratcheted up security for games, which has included tighter visa rules for foreign travelers, even if they hold Olympics tickets.
Wire reports
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11 Comments
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DeepAir65
but I heard from out China office that China have suspended visa applications been suspended so it makes no difference - if you have not got a visa now you are probably not going no matter how cheap they make the hotels.
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DeepAir65
arg! why can't you edit posts with this new interface? One step forwards, two steps back!
I think you can follow what I mean though!!!
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PepinGalarga
the real impact should have been estimated a few months ago when the Tibet and Olympic Torch fiascoes were going on. The damage was done back then.
They dont mention if rates are down for 4-5 star hotels, which is where most foreigners will stay, so this story has little relevance to our audience.
I may travel to China in August for the hell of it. hope to score some tickets on the street...
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Xennon
Pepin,
From what I understand, it is illegal for Chinese citizens to sell the tickets. This is of course word of mouth so I may be wrong.
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Bovinus
Good to see nobody's going to the Olympics. I'm still amazed China even got the Olympics in the first place. It's a dictatorship.
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Sarge
"It's a dictatorship"
Yeah, but it's a dictatorship that makes the world's clothes and toys and a bunch of other stuff that we need, and, anyway, who said only democracies get to host the Olympics? Not the IOC!
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sharpie
a dictatorship? and whats so different about a country like the states who can wage a war on terror, ie anyone it wants, and call people terrorists, ie anyone who disagrees with its policies? come on. dont be so ignorant and so naiive as to say china doesnt deserve it. the olympics are a commercial fiasco, and who's leading in producing all the goods we crave? ...china
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minkaboo
Sharpie:
There's a huge difference between countries that have no freedom of speech, religion, and right to gather peaceably and a country that wages war on foreign countries esp. after it was attacked in 9/11. I disagree w/ the US foreign policy, as the worldwide world does. Try criticizing the President of China in front of his house and see what happens to you and all your families -- this makes all the difference.
Sarge: No one is critizing China or Chinese people or their manufactured goods. It's the Communist government's policy of treatment of its own citizens that's often brutal, medieval-like, and unfair. It's out of synch with the rest of modernized world's sense of how we do treat our own citizens. Olympic host is about an exemplary country that the world looks-up to. How could anyone lookup to a country that has no human rights record??
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OssanULTRA
If the Chinese govt is restricting visas then obviously that is counterproductive to bringing in lots of Olympic visitors. But a poor visitor turnout isn't all that significant in light of all the hassles China has had to go through just to be able to say they hosted the Olympics. Not to mention that it probably taught the IOC a good lesson for the future.
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PepinGalarga
China wanted to do things its way, not its blowing up in their face.
I predict there will be a real estate meltdown in Beijing before the end of the year. There's hundreds of new ultra-modern office buildings completed in the last 12 months. There's so much office square footage and no foreign companies to fill them. The local companies are being very conservative, so they won't make the first move. It may bring down China's economy a few percentage points.
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Kwaabish
"Ïf you build it, people will come."
apparently not to Beijing...
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