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Third of London hotel rooms empty for Olympics as 'normal' tourists stay away
The Telegraph ^ | June 5, 2012 | Thomas Harding

Posted on 06/05/2012 10:56:24 AM PDT by C19fan

The boom to the economy that the Government hoped the Games would bring to the capital appears to become a bust with tens of thousands to tourists spurning the hiked prices, congestion and heightened security. While bookings for July and August are down by 35 per cent on last year other European capitals appear to be prospering from London’s gloom.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: london; olympics
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Praise the Lord that Chicago was rejected by the IOC to host.
1 posted on 06/05/2012 10:56:32 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

I wouldn’t go just because I wouldn’t want to deal with englandistan’s population at present.


2 posted on 06/05/2012 11:01:00 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: C19fan
Later in the article examples of hotels raising prices 100-300% are given. Live by the gouge, die by the gouge.
3 posted on 06/05/2012 11:02:37 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (You only have three billion heartbeats in a lifetime.How many does the government claim as its own?)
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To: C19fan

I used to look forward to the Olympics, but I don’t even watch it anymore. The Commie Media and their propagandizing, OVERcoverage of everything has ruined what used to be a singular event.

It is SURE, once again,to be a festival of political correctness, inclusiveness, diversity, manufactured, dramatic storyettes, trumped up “triumphs over adversity”, “reality” vignettes, and in general, Leftist political commentary led by the smarmy, self-satisfied midget Bob Costas.

Kicking the ass of your opponents? What’s that?


4 posted on 06/05/2012 11:04:14 AM PDT by EyeGuy (Armed, judgmental, fiscally responsible heterosexual.)
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To: C19fan

We made a one-night stopover in London a couple of weeks ago while en route to Dover for a cruise. Due to the Queen’s Diamond Jubiliee and Olympics, prices were astonishingly high. If I’d known that in advance I’d have made very different plans. The devalued dollar plus British profiteering will keep American tourists away.


5 posted on 06/05/2012 11:05:18 AM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: EyeGuy

The biggest turn off is how so full of themselves the IOC has gotten and the costs involved. The UK is paying $15 billion to host the games, I am not sure if that includes security costs, when it cannot afford to build ships for the Royal Navy.


6 posted on 06/05/2012 11:10:17 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: KarlInOhio

hotels raising prices 100-300%....?

I can skip that!....Cheers mate!


7 posted on 06/05/2012 11:13:06 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: C19fan

I grew up in SE London. We went over to London in April to see my daughter who lives there now. The traffic is appalling. I cannot imagine what it will be like with many out-of-towners struggling to get across the city in their cars. Tourist tend to stay central and don’t have cars. The only hope is that they effectively suspend the congestion charges.
As to the price gouging, it is the same the world over. Caveat emptor. It is one of the prices of a free market economy. God forbid they have a Blumenthal solution to the problem.


8 posted on 06/05/2012 11:21:59 AM PDT by bjc (Check the data!!)
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To: C19fan

Glad I stood in Shakespeare’s steps, but been there, done that. Never again. Too many other neat places to be.


9 posted on 06/05/2012 11:23:11 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: C19fan
The same thing happened in Atlanta when we had the misfortune of hosting the Olympics. So many people here just knew there'd be millions of people desperately hunting for a place to stay. They turned out regular renters expecting to be able to gouge the Olympic visitors. Those folks should do their homework, because there just aren't that many attendees to the Olympics.

Atlanta even spent millions of dollars for TV cameras all over the place ... most of which are inoperative now.

10 posted on 06/05/2012 11:27:31 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: EyeGuy

You nailed it for me. When it became more about what personal things the Olympian had to overcome, rather than their sport and performance, I tuned out.

When I was a kid, I had to refuse to accept a bowling trophy when the team my mom and I were on won it, because it would have jeopardized my ability to compete in the Olympics as an amateur. Now pros can compete.

I loved the amateur status aspect of the games. Now it’s just like watching professional sports. The whole mystic is gone.

Used to be you’d watch the kids walking in and get real pride. Now you watch the pros walk in and fell more shame than pride.

I remember Magic Johnson and crew playing for our basketball team against nations with young kids who weren’t professionals. I was never in my life more ashamed of an aspect of our national image.

Magic outperforming some kid from Nigeria, now there’s real class.


11 posted on 06/05/2012 11:35:57 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Republicanism: Y1 Rant Y2 Rant Y3 Rant Y4, Oh nevermind, vote for him anyway. Rinse & Repeat!)
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To: EyeGuy

When that bomb in Atlanta didn’t go off and kill a hundred people, you could see the dissappointment in Costas’ face. Little bastard thought he was gonna be the next Jim McKay.


12 posted on 06/05/2012 11:44:05 AM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: EyeGuy
It is SURE, once again,to be a festival of political correctness, inclusiveness, diversity, manufactured, dramatic storyettes, trumped up “triumphs over adversity”, “reality” vignettes, and in general, Leftist political commentary led by the smarmy, self-satisfied midget Bob Costas.

One tip: avoid the flagship NBC channel and stick with watching events on the "overflow" channels. They tend to do a much better job just showing the sports and not trying to turn the event into a 2+ week chick flick.

13 posted on 06/05/2012 11:50:12 AM PDT by kevkrom (Those in a rush to trample the Constitution seem to forget that it is the source of their authority.)
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To: bjc

I was in London in May for ten days and had a very good time. I didn’t even think about getting a car and got around fine on the Tube. Weather could have been nicer but overall not bad. The food though, yes, it was bad.


14 posted on 06/05/2012 11:57:06 AM PDT by LiveFree99
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To: freeangel

Good.

We wouldnt want to deal with someone’s whose grasp of the UK is so ludicrous.


15 posted on 06/05/2012 12:07:55 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: C19fan

We are in the process of building the two new aircraft carriers.


16 posted on 06/05/2012 12:09:58 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: DoughtyOne

Yet the 92 Dream Team are lauded in the US.

I agree with you. That team was always going to win. I never saw what the hype was about. The 1980 Lake Placid team is REAL American heroism: college kids, not pros.


17 posted on 06/05/2012 12:11:52 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: LiveFree99
I was in London in May for ten days and had a very good time.

After the first time I went to England, I'd rent a car at the airport and take the M4 west or the M1 North. It might make a difference that I already live in a city. Went to a lot of places where I never heard an American accent.

18 posted on 06/05/2012 12:14:55 PM PDT by Stentor ("All cults of personality start out as high drama and end up as low comedy.")
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To: LiveFree99

Oh, the food isnt that bad.

Ok, English food is not the best, and even in the UK, Scottish and Irish and Welsh produce and meals are usually better, but it dosent deserve the pasting it gets from the US.

I was in London six weeks ago, and had fine food, from a ‘greasy spoon caf’ to the (three star) hotel restaurant.


19 posted on 06/05/2012 12:14:55 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: DoughtyOne

I prefer the Winter Olympics, because for the most part, because of the nature of the sports involved, with the exception of Hockey, it is for the most part still mostly amateurs.


20 posted on 06/05/2012 12:19:08 PM PDT by dfwgator
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