Travelmole guest comment: Andy Storey, managing director Europe, Rubicon
The objective of the study was to investigate and identify trends to help us to support London hotels in planning pricing more effectively in the summer of 2012.
So what did we find out?
At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious hoteliers can look forward to bumper demand during the actual period of the Games, and consequently could see rates double as a result. Full properties and sky-high prices is the dream scenario for accommodation providers, but the Olympics are not necessarily going to be all good news.
The issue of most concern is the shoulder periods – the weeks and months before and after the Games. Hoteliers could potentially lose all the profit achieved from the Games by not concentrating on these dates. Our research from the Vancouver Winter Olympics earlier this year revealed that the bookings from the corporate sector plunged by a staggering 80% in the days before and after the event period.
The downturn in shoulder periods either side of major sporting events is well recognised – it happened during the last Superbowl in Miami and at the recent Ryder Cup. When compared to ‘normal’ years, destinations often fare worse overall.
By recognising past trends, London hotels can now look to manage their pricing effectively throughout the Olympic summer of 2012, enabling them to compete more effectively with their competition and draw in both tourist business and corporate travellers.
The secret is pricing keenly and not ignoring the customers – be they tour operators or TMCs – who are their bread and butter business outside of these extraordinary peaks in demand.
Dinah
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