Posted by Greg Whyte on 10 July 2012, 03:25 pm
I read this morning about the Olympics (less than 1 month to go) in London that there are great deals to be had in accommodation and shows around the city.
Amazing state of affairs considering the Olympics is supposed to be a major draw-card and I thought beds would be at a premium. Not so - hotels in London are paying the price for being too greedy and pushing up the price for rooms by as much as 10 times their normal room price - wow! Bookings are down by 35% and prices are being slashed to attract last minute bookings. Prices have been slashed by 30% and West End hit shows by as much as 50%.
During the RWC 2011 in NZ there was a similar stance taken by some hospitality operators - prices went through the roof for hotel rooms yet in the month before the start of the cup prices started to tumble as many has misread the market and were left with empty beds to fill. I saw packages on cruise ships offering 10 nights accommodation plus tickets to the semis and final drop from $4,999.00 per person to $999.00 per person - bargains were there to be had.
Room rates in London on last minute sites have dropped to as low as 59.00 British pounds and there are a large number of rooms available. The greedy hoteliers deserve what they get - empty rooms. Why would you pay up to 10 times the normal price. I accept there are premiums for world class events but common sense must prevail - you still need to be value for money and we all know what it is like when you feel like you have been ripped off.
In not reading the market and being overly greedy the hoteliers have given the Olympics a poor start before any event has taken place and greed is at the heart of the problem No thought has been given to supporting the event for greater good, no thought to the effects on British tourism and no thought given to the consumer - the fall guy here who has to pay the outrageous room rates.
But it is not a British problem solely - its a global problem and with events spread around the world it happens everywhere. When we were in Paris for the last RWC in 2007 - the All Blacks had been knocked out in the quarter finals we were able to cancel our hotel accommodation for the semi and finals but had to book into the same hotel for the day after the final as we had booked for the final - an amazing difference in price - more than 50% less than we had been previously quoted.
The bottom line is you still need to be value for money - misread the situation and consumers will vote with their wallets and choose to stay elsewhere - there are other places in Europe to see other than London and these become much more attractive when taking into account the costs of visiting London at this time.
