How to get accommodations in Beijing for the Olympics

The Associated Press reports that there are still hotel rooms available in Beijing for the Olympics. However, it fails to tell us where and for how much. With only 64 days until go time, is it possible to plan a last-minute trip? Sure. Here are some quick tips for you if you’re traveling to China this summer for the games.

Olympic dates: Aug. 8-24

Location: There are several venues throughout Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, but many events will take place in an area called Olympic Green, where the National Stadium is located. Here is a map of Olympic venues on the Beijing 2008 website.

Hotels under $100/night? Good luck. I used the Mobissimo hotel search tool and found several rooms under $100, but be careful - the search results took me to a website called AsiaRooms.com where I needed to plug in my dates again and ran into a dead end of either no budget rooms or hotels with prices three to four times what I was originally looking at. Plus, there was the chore of trying to figure out where the hotel was in relation to the Olympic areas. When I checked with Orbitz, there were a variety of hotels that you could book directly through Orbitz without leaving the site. I found a four-star Holiday Inn with rooms for $237 per night (Aug. 13-20).

Hotels for the Olympics: I ran across a simple travel website that I’d never heard of before, China Hotels Reservation. It wasn’t a website that I knew and trusted, but they had an Olympic hotels section that gave me hotels right in the area I would want without having to do extra research. The website is informative and easy to use. Just look for the Olympic rings. Expect to pay more than $400 per night for four- and five-star hotels, and $150 to $400 per night for three-star hotels.

Check out vacation rentals: There are a bunch of Beijing apartments available in August on Craigslist (Beijing vacation rentals). I searched for “Olympic Greens” and immediately found a two-bedroom apartment that was being rented for $100 per night. Bringing the whole family? I found a four-bedroom apartment available for $350 per night.

Beijing Apartments is a website specific to renting apartments in Beijing. I love the location map that plots the apartment and gives you picture clues as to how far away you are from attractions such as the Olympics area or the Forbidden City. Caveat: I couldn’t find rates. I would have had to e-mail in for rate and availability. I wasn’t surprised since I’ve run into this when trying to book rentals in Europe.

Luxury hotels: Read the Los Angeles Times’ “Beijing Olympics: China awash in new luxury hotels”

Transportation: The Beijing 2008 website, in addition to providing heaps of news about the Olympics, has a section for spectators that includes information on local transportation, what to wear, how to use phones and more.

Web buzz: Here are some good travel websites for travelers headed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics:

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games…An Insider’s Guide
Lonely Planet: Beijing
Zagat: Beijing (restaurants, nightlife, hotels, attractions)

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel Deal Blogger

[Photo: Beijing National Stadium, Frederic J. Brown AFP/Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 6:00 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under Asia, China, News, Tips & Advice, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.