Empty Olympic hotel rooms available at bargain prices

PA

As well as empty seats in the Olympic Stadium, there are thousands of empty hotel rooms all over London - and many of them are now available at bargain prices.

The Sunday Times reports that during the past month, prices have been slashed by 17 per cent, according to the comparison website Trivago.co.uk

This is largely because there have been numerous new openings in recent months, adding 13,300 rooms since 2009. This means that there are now more than 123,000 hotel rooms in the capital, and at least 30 per cent of these are currently empty. This is expected to rise to about 55 per cent (about 67,000 rooms) after the closing ceremony.

Last year, demand for hotel rooms during the Olympics was expected to exceed supply - and prices rocketed as a result.

But reports of rising rates are believed to have scared off tourists, and now prices are falling sharply.

There are likely to be even more bargains available after the games, with some hotels offering discounts of up to 60 per cent.

So if you've planning a trip to London, August could be month to do it!

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