Beijing Olympics tickets and hotels

I just created an account at the official Olympic ticketing website for Beijing 2008. This is possible for all Chinese and for foreigners living in China (you need to have at least a 6-months visa). The tickets are not yet available, but you can now already set up your profile there, so that you can be the first one when they start selling the tickets next month. This does not guarantee that you get tickets, though, because if events are oversold the tickets will be randomly distributed (which in China probably means that you need to have connections to get tickets, or buy them on the black market).

I plan to watch at least a couple of events next year August in Beijing. The opening ceremony of course, and probably some athletics events. Likely I will fly up and down between Shanghai and Beijing, because prices for hotels are outrageous. Or maybe I can stay at my parents-in-law, whose apartment is just a 5 minute drive from the Olympic stadium area.

When I was in Beijing over Chinese New Year I checked with the hotel where I had my wedding in 2005. That hotel is virtually next to the Olympic Stadium and I could hardly recognize the area around it anymore (the small tree-lined street right behind it is now an 8 lane highway). My wife and I talked to the manager, and found that they still have rooms available, but that their normal prices in RMB will be changed into USD. This means that their room rates do not start at RMB 1700 anymore, but at a whopping USD 1700 per night (8 times as high). And even at that price they cannot guarantee you the rooms, they want to wait a bit longer to see if they can increase prices even more. All other hotels in the area are fully booked already, so it seems to be a smart strategy.

And that gives me a new business idea: You should rent some small apartments around the Olympic site for one year starting this September, leaving them empty for a whole year (or sub-let them to students during the academic year, there are several universities in the area), and then rent them out to foreigners during the Olympics. A USD 400/month 2-bedroom apartment can probably be rented out for USD 500 per day during the Olympics. It’s a bit of a hassle, but it seems like a low risk investment.