Despite all the excitement and buildup to eh 2012 summer Olympics in London, hotel prices are coming down.
Between July 27, when the opening ceremony occurs, and the final day, August 12, hotel prices in London are still pretty high at an average of $250 (£160) per night. This rate is up 75% than the same time last year due to the big event, but over the past two weeks, prices have dropped by 25 percent, according to Hotels.com.
Earlier this month, London hotels were going for a rate of $327 (£202) per night, but recently, there has been a significant price increase as the summer games get closer. Hotels.com even found that some room are running as low as $92 (£59), according to the Telegraph.
Hotels expected a high increase in travel, but the tourism rate has not reached expectations as people don't want to pay the premium hotel rates. As a result, thousands of unwanted hotel rooms that are held by the London Olympics organizing committee are being released back to the hotels so that they could be booked as the Games get closer.
"A lot of hotels, small, medium and large, have held back until now in the hope of attracting visitors at premium rates," Seamus Maccormaic of Hotels.com told the Telegraph. "But they are now starting to put rooms onto the market at much lower rates because they found they just could not fill them."
Hotels are now selling the rooms at lower prices to try to catch the attention of spontaneous visitors who are deciding to head to the Games at the last minute. This would specifically target those in other parts of Britain and other northern European countries.
The falling rates also come as a result of hotels removing their length-of-stay minimums. Hotels are now selling more rooms for one-night stays. Also, more hotels have opened up recently, which means that even more rooms are available for travelers.
MacCormaic said: "Falling prices are an encouraging move for consumers and there is still good availability across London in all classes of hotel.
MacCormaic believes that summer travel to London isn't doomed yet. He noted that there is still interest in London travel as people are searching London from the UK for the Olympics at a 22 percent rate higher than last year.
The lower hotel prices may start to pick up tourism again as the opening ceremony for the Olympics is just a month away.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
