By: Richard Oram
7 years of planning, $14billion in development and 2 months till the Games begin!
In just over 2 months’ time London will welcome over 10,000 athletes and some estimated 1 million visitors to the Summer Olympic Games on top of the normal 1.5 million summer visitors.
Over the last few years, there have been some epic redevelopments in areas of London which will be the base for the Olympic village but also a surge in the number of new hotels being built across London and South East England.
Hoteliers have been banking on the Olympics to bring in millions of Pounds in revenue with some being criticised for cashing in on the expected uptake in bedrooms from late July to mid-August. Some major hotel chains have since jumped to their own defence comparing room rates with the same time period last year. Yet the general perception is that some hotels are charging extortionate prices – one hotel’s standard price for a room has increased from $80/£50 to a whopping $450/£274 for one night on the opening night of the Games. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/london-olympics/hotels-seek-new-heights-with-games/story-fn9dirj0-1226350505446
It’s estimated that there will be some 110,000 bedrooms available in Central London in star rated properties, with over a third allocated to Olympic dignitaries – some of these rooms have been booked by LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) since 2009, leaving the rest of the rooms for the public – but you had to act quick to get a good deal. There are rooms still available across London – some in the center from $460/£295 or budget hotels from $160/£95, but the majority of 5 Star and boutique properties have been fully booked for over a year. Some bargains can still be found if you are lucky enough to pick up some last minute Olympic tickets.
We have seen seeing significant growth in the number of hotels opening over the last 2 years and many customers moving over to OPERA from legacy systems Over 140 hotels in Central London have installed OPERA since 2010, taking the number of hotels running OPERA to over 326 in the capital alone. This summer OPERA will be managing around 60,000 bedrooms in London, with a market share of 75% of the 5 Star hotel market or 55% of the total London hotel market. With our legacy products, we will provide over 71,000 bedrooms across 401 hotels making MICROS the largest provider of PMS systems for the Games with 65% of all rooms across Central London.
In preparation for the Games we have seen many hotels deploy new hardware to make their systems resilient for the duration of the Games, and also an increased use of our own hosting services with over 130 OPERA hotels in London being deployed out of our Frankfurt Data Center. Many customers have been upgrading their system to the latest release of OPERA allowing them to deploy new functionality in time for the Games with particular growth in e-commerce and distribution products.
Of course it’s not too late to upgrade to OPERA or upgrade your existing version in preparation for the Games so you can be assured your hotel will be using the most popular PMS system for the Games providing you with the confidence you need in your system and providing your customers with excellent customer service. For information on what MICROS UK can offer with our tailor-made installation packages – email us at mfuksales@micros.com
For our US customers contact your account manager for info.
