Hotel prices ‘up 300 per cent for Olympics’

Those in the centre of the capital were £2,891 a week or 139 per cent more expensive on average over the period when the sporting event is taking place than after the Games, according to a study for Santander.

Researchers also looked at prices near the Olympic Park in east London, which is hosting up to 180,000 spectators a day, and found that while most hotels were booked up, one of the few with vacancies was charging an extra £ 5,054.

This was the equivalent of a 301 per cent increase on its rates after the Games.

The study compared the cost of a week-long stay for a family of four in two rooms starting on the day of the Olympics opening ceremony next Friday with prices in late August, after the event has finished.

Big hikes

Four star hotels in central London were found to be particularly likely to apply big rate hikes, with one venue increasing its prices by 245 per cent over the period, an uplift of £5,666.

A Santander spokesman said: “This research highlights just how enormous the demand to stay in London during this summer’s biggest sporting event is.

“The fact that the few limited rooms available near the Stratford Olympic Park can charge such expensive rates demonstrates how holidaymakers are willing to pay the extra costs.”

The increases were found to be bigger than a typical London hotel price hike of 54 per cent over the bank holiday weekend marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which was recorded in a previous study.

In January, the organising committee for the London 2012 Games confirmed 120,000 hotel places it reserved for workers and sponsors were no longer needed, sparking fears that the high hotel prices being charged for the Games are putting off people.

Channel 4 News tried to book a Premier Inn room at the Angel Islington hotel for Friday 27 July 2012 – the night of the Olympics Opening Ceremony – and it was priced at £199. The same room seven days earlier costs just £100, so an increase of around 100 per cent.