The accommodation during the major event, the Olympics, the World Cup, the coronation, the royal wedding, the Champions League final, is the most expensive and the most difficult to secure in the any city. The London of the 2012 Olympics was the extreme example: the 26 million visitors over the 17 days, the hotel prices that tripled (the £150/night Premier Inn at the Stratford was the £450/night), the Airbnb that barely existed (the 2012 was the year the Airbnb was still the start-up, and the few apartments that were listed were the £500/night for the sofa bed the 3 miles from the nearest Tube station), and the “Olympic rentals”, the houses of the Londoners who evacuated the city for the duration of the Games and rented their homes for the £2,000–5,000 per week. The lessons of the London Olympics accommodation are the lessons for the any major event in Europe. Here is your guide.

Accommodation for Major Events

• The essential strategies: 1. Book the 12 months in advance (or the day the event is announced): The hotel prices for the major event begin to rise the moment the date is confirmed, and the prices do not fall. The essential strategy: the booking the day the dates are announced, the refundable rate, and the price that is locked before the surge. The Premier Inn, the Travelodge, and the Ibis, the budget chains, are the best value, and the rooms are the first to sell out (the tour operators and the corporate buyers take the blocks of the rooms). The essential alternative: the hotel that is the 30–60 minutes by the train from the event city (the Reading for the London, the Bolton for the Manchester, the Girona for the Barcelona), the train journey is the long, the hotel is the cheap, and the combination is the best value. 2. The home rental, the Airbnb and the Vrbo: The home rental is the essential for the major event: the family of the 4–6, the kitchen, the washing machine, the space, and the cost that is lower than the 2–3 hotel rooms. The essential strategy: the book the moment the dates are confirmed (the best rentals are the snapped up within the hours of the announcement), the “Superhost” and the “Premier Host” (the vetting, the reliability, and the essential filter), and the cancellation policy (the strict, the refundable only if the host cancels, is the safest for the major event. The host who cancels on the guest during the major event is the banned from the platform). 3. The university accommodation: The university halls of the residence, the student rooms, the en-suite, the basic, the cheap, are the essential value for the major event. The universities in the London, the Manchester, the Edinburgh, and the other event cities open the halls to the visitors during the summer holidays, and the cost is the £50–100/night for the single room. The essential booking site: the UniversityRooms.com. More UK →
• The essential warnings: The price gouging: the hotel that cancels the existing booking and re-lists the room at the 3x the price, the “walking”, is the illegal in the UK and Europe, and the essential protection: the booking confirmation, the credit-card payment (the Section 75 protection in the UK), and the immediate complaint to the booking platform. The scams: the Airbnb listing that does not exist, the “Olympic apartment” that is the photograph of the different property, and the essential protection: the reviews, the Superhost, the reverse image search, and the payment only through the platform (the never pay by the bank transfer)