If you're intrigued by all of the crazy vacation and airfare deals to Beijing of late, then rest assured that they won't be going away anytime soon as the city struggles with a dearth of tourism despite last summer's Olympics. Combine the low visitor numbers with Beijing's glut of newly-opened luxury hotels with high nightly rates, and it seems that they've got a case of the Dubai disease--whereby the recession hits new development hard enough to stabilize room rates at a more affordable level.
Although since it's only been a few months of low occupancy, don't expect to roll up into Beijing's Park Hyatt for $150 a night quite yet; they still have their pride. This is quickly waning, however, as the LA Times points out that 126 new hotels opened last year and added 29,000 rooms, bringing the city's total of starred hotels to over 800, with more than 130,000 rooms. That's a lot of space, considering that the Olympics are over and business travel is way down.
The recent burning of the Mandarin Oriental building hasn't done anything to help the situation either, or has it? With the unwelcome coverage os such a tragic events casting a negative light on Beijing, a small glimmer of hope shines in the back of other hotel manager's eyes as this means one less competitor. Nonetheless, bet on serious room rate drops in Beijing through 2009; get those visas ready, frugal travelers!
[Photo: The Telegraph UK]
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