Greed Rears Its Head

Bloomberg reports that the 2012 Olympic Games in London are 'distorting' the market for hotel rooms in London.

Tom Jenkins, executive director of the European Tour Operators Association said:

"My members move about 20,000 bed nights in London every night in August.

At the moment, we can't book those bed nights for 2012. That's business that's gone. Once you scare that business away, it’s very difficult to reestablish that pattern."

Unsurprisingly, the London hotel industry cannot resist trying to stick its head as deeply as possible into the Olympics trough.

Doubtless racking up the rates, in the short term, may well provide the hotels with some extra income. However, in the long term the damage done to the hotel industry ("rip off merchants" being the operative phrase) and London's reputation as a tourist destination will be hard to repair.

Naked greed does nothing to help the reputation of the games, the hotel industry or London.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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