Some people say sports are all about money. They are for some.

Now major international hotel chains and tiny hostels in Beijing have one thing in common: they both plan on milking the Beijing Games for all they're worth.

"We plan on charging guests 600 yuan ($78) per night during the 16-day Games and we have 200 beds," said the executive manager of the Zhaolong International Hostel, who preferred to be identified with his surname Li. "So do the math."

The sum total of one entrepreneur's Olympic gold rush? A hefty 1.92 million yuan ($248,383).

The story right now could hardly be more different.

Even though spring in Beijing is considered by some locals to be the most beautiful season, occupancy rates are low and one bed in a six-bed room can go for as little as 60 yuan a night, said Li.

With hoteliers struggling to let out half of their beds, they can expect to boost their incomes by up to 20 times during the Games.

Beijing is anticipating welcoming about half a million spectators and tourists from abroad next August. Many of those who stay longer than five days will opt to stay in a budget hotel.

Balancing costs

"We have surveyed guests from former Olympic host countries like South Korea and the US to figure out how we should price our rooms," said Li.

"After we consulted with other hostels in Beijing about their prices, we decided that 600 yuan per bed was pretty fair," he said, adding that there is no market regulator setting ceilings on room rates.

For Zhang Wei, however, secretary-general of the Beijing Youth Hostel Association, this price is too high by half.

The youth hostel association now has 30 branch hostels in Beijing capable of housing 4,300 tourists.

"For the 30 or so hostels in my association, I would be satisfied with 300 yuan per bed per day," he said.

"Besides, we are on good terms with some tour agencies in a number of European countries, and we have to give them preferential treatment despite the Olympic gold rush."

Overpriced

For Switzerland's Franziska Jud, Li's Olympic price tag is way off.

Jud stayed in a two-bed room in Zhaolong hostel for five nights in early March and only paid 160 yuan per night.

Jud and her boyfriend are seasoned shoestringers, having spent the last 15 months living in cheap guest houses in Southeast Asia.

"Though it's our first hostelling experience, we like it. It is clean and the room has central heating," Jud said.

"We like the self-catering kitchen, the laundry room, and the sunshine-filled common room. It's interesting to talk with other travelers when you are doing your laundry together."

"I don't think I want to pay 600 yuan for a bed like this during the Olympics though."

Jud said the cost was disproportionate in a city where a packet of cigarettes costs 5 yuan, 10 times cheaper than in Switzerland.

Budget-conscious travelers like these are unlikely to cough up that much for a hostel, but many others will be happy just to have somewhere to sleep during the Olympics.

According to Li, a group of German tourists already tried to reserve 1,250 beds for 20 days during the Games but he had to refuse them due to a lack of capacity.

But he does have a firm game plan for the future.

"I will handle reservations for one third of the 200 beds six months before the Games, charging 50 per cent of the total as a down payment," he said, adding that the remainder would probably turn lucrative during the Olympics.

Coping with the influx

Preparing to get a bigger slice of the accommodation pie during the Beijing Olympics, Zhang said the Beijing Youth Hostel Association is going to lend their hostel management resources to some local budget hotels.

Beijing's hostel business took off seven years ago and now boasts some of the best English-speaking staff in the city, said Zhang Wei, one of the first to cash in on the emerging market.

He said language barriers were a major issue for his team.

"We will invite some foreign language experts to work on the hostel brochures. We want travelers from other non-English- speaking countries to have zero language barriers in our hostels.

"Besides, some Olympic volunteers with language skills in Russian, Arabic, Japanese, French, Germany, Spanish and many other foreign languages will help us," he said.

Both Li and Zhang plan to run Olympics-related side businesses in their hostels.

"I want to set up an Olympic souvenirs vendor stall in the lobby, and I've contacted National Geographic magazine to see if we can develop some special travel maps for backpackers," said Li. He is also plans to develop more branch hostels near Olympic venues.

Meanwhile, Zhang is experimenting with an ambitious plan to transform Beijing's traditional courtyards, or siheyuan, into hostels.

"We are developing a series of 'Red Lantern' siheyuan-themed hostels. We can rent one courtyard for 260-300 yuan per day, and this kind of hostel is really popular among foreign travelers who come to explore old Beijing.
"It would be great to develop more of these for the Games," Zhang said.