OLYMPICS officials will be staying in five-star hotels on Park Lane, more than eight miles from the Olympic village, if London is awarded the 2012 Games.
London 2012 has block-booked 2,000 rooms in the Dorchester, the Four Seasons and four other exclusive hotels for the International Olympic Committee.
While half the athletes will be able to walk to their venues, the IOC’s senior staff be located at the heart of London’s shopping district, minutes by foot from Oxford Street and Bond Street, because there are not enough hotels of a satisfactory calibre in the East End. London 2012 is required to find 1,800 rooms in five-star hotels for the “IOC family”.
According to London 2012’s own calculations, it will take them an average of 27 minutes by car to get from their hotels to the Olympic Park, using the special lanes reserved for competitors and IOC members.
London 2012 disclosed that the Olympic village will have 17,223 bed spaces in 9,460 rooms and 2,943 apartments, comfortably exceeding the IOC’s minimum of 16,000. It also said that it had signed guarantees on the pricing of 30,000 hotel rooms to prevent unscrupulous groups cashing in on the demand for accommodation in August 2012.