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When the Olympic Games hit Beijing in August 2008, you might be excused for thinking hotel rooms will all be fully booked and over-the-top in prices. I remember when I tried to get affordable accommodation at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and got down to the option of a tent on somebody’s roof, for the price I’d usually pay for a decent hotel room.

Fortunately, the situation in Beijing sounds like it’ll be quite different. Although a recent BusinessWeek report carried the headline Prices for Beijing hotels skyrocket, the details make it sound like there will actually be a slight over-supply of hotel rooms come August, and that it won’t be impossible to get a reasonably priced room. You might need to be patient or shop around, though.

Hotels have already dropped the initial requirement that guests book for the full period of the Olympic Games; now you can book for just four or five days. Just the same, with a million Chinese visitors and half a million foreign visitors expected to arrive for the Olympics, it would pay to keep your eye on the hotel prices as they fluctuate between now and the games and grab a booking when you see a half-good deal.