A porter at Crowne Plaza Wuzhou Hotel helps a guest with her luggage

Two kilometers south of what will be Beijing's signature Olympic venue, the National Stadium (Bird's Nest), one three-star hotel is undergoing extensive renovations before reopening as a five-star hotel next January.

Meanwhile, the 250m-high Park Hyatt Beijing, located in the southwestern corner of Beijing's famous central business district, has experienced round-the-clock construction for months.

The list of construction sites in the city that are benefiting from much investment by big names in the hospitality industry could run a lot longer, as most are hoping to increase their share of the pie next August.

According to estimates by the Beijing Tourism Administration (BTA), about 550,000 overseas tourists and spectators, and another 2.58 million domestic visitors, will arrive in Beijing for the Games next summer.

Du Jiang, director of the BTA, told China Daily last month that he is not concerned about Beijing not having enough resources to accommodate all of the Olympic tourists.

In the city there are 700 star-rated hotels with a collective capacity of more than 110,000 rooms and 200,000 beds. In 2008, another 100 star-rated hotels will be built, bringing in an additional 20,000 rooms.

"As well as the star-rated hotels, the city has over 4,000 unrated hotels, and some local companies have their own guesthouses. The government is also busy selecting suitable households to provide lodgings for international guests," he added.

There are also traditional-style courtyard guesthouse in Beijing's hutongs, or small alleyways, which currently offer rooms for 100 yuan ($13) a night, although these are expected to be snapped up next summer by backpackers traveling on shoestring budgets.

"But recently, more and more domestic travelers have switched over from average, unrated hotels to luxurious ones," said Du. "So I'm afraid there will be a scramble for the limited supply of better-quality rooms."

The scramble seems to have already begun.

This means that even those tourists with the financial muscle to support a luxurious Olympic trip may have to accept a downgrade: Olympic officials and sponsors booked all the best rooms years ago.

All of the best hotels within the fourth ring road are nearly fully booked, organizing committee BOCOG announced on April 19,

BOCOG has made contracts with 122 such hotels, comprising approximately 30,000 rooms, said Xiang Ping, deputy director of the committee's Games Services Department.

The majority are located in the northern part of Beijing, where most of the Olympic venues are stationed, and at least 70 percent of their rooms are reserved for BOCOG's registered guests.

But Beijing's tourism head Du said the BTA would try to solve this problem by upgrading the service quality of the star-rated hotels, while taking measures to improve software and hardware in the non-rated hotels.

Beijing has classified the restaurants and catering establishments into four grades: A, B, C, and D. All of the Olympic contracted hotels are expected to be grade A, assuring superlative standards of food quality and safety.

Meanwhile, a no smoking campaign has begun at Beijing's hotels and restaurants. From next June, smoking will be strictly prohibited in all 122 designated hotels.

The local health bureau issued an announcement last week urging every hotel in the capital that uses a central cooling and heating system to clean up their ventilation systems before next May. It said the Olympic-contracted hotels have to finish the clean-up job before December, with unqualified establishments face fines of up to 50,000 yuan ($6,700).

Going green

Hotels are also being marshaled into supporting the environmental legacy the Olympics is intended to have on Beijing.

"BOCOG will hire experts to inspect the contracted hotels early next year. Hotels that fail to meet the 'green' criteria must do so or face being dropped from the list," Xiang Ping was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Saving water and energy are basic requirements.

Hotel staff will be on hand to promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle, taking measures to avoid wasting water and keeping disposable amenities that guests have not used instead of needlessly throwing them away, said Xiang.

No cap on prices

The Olympics has never been cheap, and local hoteliers are keen to capitalize on this.

"The price of hotel rooms, vehicles and tour guides in Beijing during the Olympic Games will all be at least four times higher than normal," said Yao Yuecan, president of the China International Travel Service Head Office.

He said that few hotels have released their Games-time prices yet.

The few that have done so have stunned customers with hikes of up to 1,000 percent.

Hotel Kunlun, a five-star hotel that allocates 70 percent of its rooms to accredited clients of the Olympic Family, has raised its deluxe room rate from 1,280 yuan ($165) at present to 12,000 yuan per night during the Games.

Worse still, almost all the local hotels do not have discounts for early-bird bookers trying to secure a bed for next summer. Some even have minimum-stay rules, such as booking for seven straight days during the Games.

The situation has caused concern among local media that such profiteering may drive potential Olympic fans away unless the government steps in and issues a set ceiling, something the city's policymakers are reluctant to do.

"The hotels are fully within their rights to determine what room rates they are going to charge during the Games," said Beijing Vice-Mayor Ding Xiangyang. "The government won't arbitrarily set the prices."

Ding suggested that basic economics laws would ensure the situation takes care of itself.

"Beijing has enough resources to accommodate all of the Olympic tourists, so the hotels cannot set their prices unreasonably high," he warned.

(China Daily 08/08/2007 page28)