Olympic Games Hotel Rooms Returned by LOCOG
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Hotel Industry Trends, Hotel News, Olympic Games 2012, Trending Topics
Back in 2005, more than 600,000 nights in 40,000 hotel rooms across London were reserved by Olympic Games organiser, LOCOG. This week, 20% of that stock has been returned to hoteliers, creating fresh supply in the market.
This was always the deal. As part of the Olympic Games bid, the organisers reserved accommodation for Olympic delegates – everyone from the international media to sport federations. The agreement stipulated that unwanted stock must be returned to hotels, and this week 120,000 nights were returned to approximately 200 London hotels.
“The hotel industry in London got behind the bid to stage the Games in the most extraordinary way and that support helped us across the line,” explained LOCOG CEO, Paul Deighton. “We always promised that we would not hold on to hotel rooms we didn’t need but return them to the individual hotels at the beginning of 2012. We are now doing this and I hope that this enables the hotels to continue with their planning for this summer as we all work together to stage a spectacular Games.”
Despite some speculation about the number of rooms to be returned, hoteliers have been unsure about the scale of new supply. With numbers now in place, hoteliers can more effectively plan for the summer and ensure that their revenue management systems maximise potential.
“We welcome today’s announcement by LOCOG that they will be releasing around 20 per cent of the hotel rooms that they have held in advance of the Games taking place,” said VisitBritain CEO, Sandie Dawe.
“The fact that such a wide spread of rooms in London will now be made available to the public is great news for overseas visitors wishing to come to the UK to experience the Olympics and all the other wonderful festivities that are taking place over the summer.”
