[غلدن وبّورتثنيتي]
فبراير - شباط 25, 2008
[غلدن وبّورتثنيتي]
ب [فيفا] [غلدنر]
ل كثير يغرّب بيجين, ال يلوح لعب أولمبيّة شيء من [غريل] مقدّسة, [أونمتشد] مهنة فرصة والعذر نهائيّة إلى حزب في هم يتبنّى وطن. غير أنّ يعدّ بعض أجنبيات أن يجتنب الحالة فوضى في أغسطس - آب, يفرّغ منازلهم [إين وردر تو] جمعت رسوم من [أوب تو] 3,000 [يون] ($420) لكلّ ليلة - [أر فن] أكثر - من سائحات يبحث خيار إلى [هوتل كّومّودأيشن].
بينما بيجين سياحة سلطات شهر متأخّرة ازدادوا حملة أن يجنّد بعض 1,000 منازل صينيّة بما أنّ "أولمبيّة أسرة فنادق", يبلغ مئات الأجنبيات يتلقّى سابقا [بريفت غريمنت] أن يصبح مضيفات [هومستي], إمّا من خلال يختصّ وكالات أو وجّهت مفاوضات مع مستأجرات.
هولندية مغامرة [بيت] [بوس] أسّس الوكالة متوفّر على شبكة الإنترنات, [هومستي] بيجين 2008 (www.homestaybeijing2008.com) مارس - آذار متأخّرة, يميّز المكسب مفاجئ ممكنة أن يكون جعلت يلائم ال 2 مليون سائحات - بما في ذلك 500,000 ضيفات عبر البحار - توقّع أن يجعل طريقهم إلى الرأس مال صينيّة لاللعبة أولمبيّة. قدّمت الدفق داخليّ كبيرة يوميّة زائرات لالفصل صيف لعب في 300,000.
يقول [بوس], ضيافة صناعة مستشارة الذي قد عاش في الصين ل 10 سنون, بيجين يزدهر [إإكسبت] جماعة يتضمّن كثير فردات الذي يعيش في شقق كبيرة مع على الأقلّ واحدة إضافيّة ضيفة غرفة. يستخدم كثير أيضا [أي] أن يطبخ ونظّفت [أس ولّ س] سائقات ومترجمات - خدمات إضافيّة أنّ يستطيع كنت قدّمت كجزء مجموعة [هومستي] يجذب معدلات [هيغر].
ولأنّ [إإكسبتس] يكونون [موست ليكلي] أن يشارك هم لغز وثقافة مع زائرات دوليّة, يقول [بوس] هم يجعلون بشكل خاصّ مضيفات مناسبة.
يتطلّب [هومستي] بيجين 2008 مالكات أن يكون فصيحة في على حدّ سواء يكتب وتكلّمت اللغة الانجليزية, [إين وردر تو] أزلت بعض من ال [كمّونيكأيشن بروبلم] غالبا يختبر بسائحات عبر البحار في الصين.
"سيكون المالكة يمكن أن يعطي موافقة, [أوب-تو-دت] و [نون-سبونسرد] معلومة إلى الضيفات," [بوس] يقول.
“Go to any 4- or 5-star hotel and ask information from the concierge, and you will have difficulties getting what you want, if you can communicate at all!”
“(There is) also the fact that most expat homes look and feel more like suitable homes for overseas visitors and the cultural aspect of it counts, too,” he adds.
Over the past months, Bos has appealed to homeowners and tenants in all districts of Beijing to sublet their homes for handsome profit under his scheme: “Imagine renting out your accommodation for the 15 days of the Olympics and making back the rent of three months. You could finally go to visit the place where you always wanted to go while the rest of Beijing is busy with the Olympics!”
Bos operates Homestay Beijing 2008 in tandem with his tour company, Beijing Daytrips.
“Each home is different, (but) as a rule of thumb, the current rate we use to establish pricing for homestays is 500-750 yuan per person that can stay in the apartment per day. In other words, if you have a two-bedroom apartment, where a maximum of four people can stay, then the average price per night is 2,000-3,000 yuan,” he says.
“Mind you, these prices are what I advise landlords. In the end, they have to decide for themselves what they want to charge to make it worth their while to have strangers stay in their home.”
While many homestay landlords plan to put the extra cash towards a vacation or visiting family and friends overseas while their home is occupied, others will stay in Beijing but share their home during the Games.
For Olympic visitors, homestay accommodation can be more affordable than staying in a hotel, as well as providing greater living space and a more localized experience of life in the Chinese capital.
Homestay Beijing 2008 now has about 400 available properties listed on its site, with short profiles, photographs and additional information for each, for example whether or not the landlord allows children to stay.
The website’s advertised rate for a traditional courtyard house in a Dongcheng District hutong is 7,500 yuan ($1,050) per night, with a minimum stay of 20 nights. Or for 5,000 yuan ($700) per night, visitors can secure a two-bedroom unit on the 10th floor of a luxury complex in Chaoyang District.
Meanwhile, local expat websites such as Beijing Community (www.beijingcommunity.com) have also become forums for individuals to reach private homestay agreements.
The site has a dedicated thread for those looking to make contact with potential tenants from overseas before August. They include Julian Fisher, a Londoner teaching history in Beijing who rents his one-bedroom flat in the city center for less than 3,000 yuan ($420) per month. Fisher has arranged to sublet his apartment to American Lee Rindge during the fortnight of the Games.
“He said hotels were charging up to 400 pounds (5,627 yuan) a day, so I offered my flat for 150 pounds (2,110 yuan) a day for two weeks,” Fisher told London’s Sunday Times newspaper.
Bos says interest from prospective overseas tenants has picked up later than expected. But he predicts demand will continue to climb as Olympic ticketing is finalized. Affordability has been the greatest determiner of demand for homestays, while proximity to Games venues is also highly sought. Homestay Beijing 2008 is currently seeking hutong accommodation to let.
Expat-led schemes such as Bos’ operate independently from a wider drive to facilitate homestay accommodation for the Olympics in order to supplement a potential shortage of hotel rooms. In January, the Beijing Tourism Administration announced the recruitment of 1,000 local households as “Olympic family hotels”.
The administration’s deputy director Xiong Yumei says the capital has 806 star-ranked hotels housing 130,000 rooms with 220,000 beds. Other lodging houses and inns can provide an additional 646,000 beds.
“The guest room supply may still fall short of demand, especially for hotels close to the sports venues,” Xiong told Xinhua News Agency.
According to recent forecasts from the tourism administration, a five-star hotel room during the Games would cost about 2,960 yuan ($414) per night. Four-star hotel rooms are expected to cost 2,320 yuan ($325) per night, while a room in a three-star hotel is forecast at 1,600 yuan ($224) per night. Two-star accommodation is expected to cost 1,200 yuan ($168) per night for one room.
But actual rates could be even higher, with the five-star Kunlun Hotel in August announcing its deluxe room rate would rise from 1,280 yuan ($180) to 12,000 yuan ($1,680) per night during the Games. The hotel allocated 70 percent of its rooms to accredited clients of the Olympic Family.
[original article at China Daily]
