HouseTrip.com, one of the world’s leading holiday rental websites, today reveals its bookings data from the Olympic Games period. A statistical snapshot of bookings to date for the 16-day Olympic period has shown that while overall bookings are down by 10%, bookings immediately pre- and post- the games have surged by 40% as travellers want to experience ‘Olympic’ fever in the 2012 host city without having to pay gold-medal prices.

HouseTrip’s analysis show that over 50% of Olympic period bookings were made by long-haul travellers at least six months in advance of the event, with an average of 2.3 guests per booking. The average booking value was £153 per property per night – well below the reported costs of equivalent hotel rooms in the UK capital.

Nicole Vosper, a HouseTrip guest and 43-year old teacher from Canada travelling with her three daughters says: “When we looked to come for the Olympics back in January, the cost of host rooms for a four-person family was prohibitive. One three-star hotel we checked was working out at £450 per night. We never would have been able to come had we not discovered HouseTrip.” Nicole chose to stay at a two-bedroom split-level apartment located in London’s iconic Centre Point building in the heart of the West End for £290 per night.

HouseTrip hosts who listed their homes at least six months prior to the Opening Ceremonies experienced the biggest benefits, booking out homes and apartments for longer stays of five days or more. Additionally, hosts who listed early also secured nightly rents of £20-£30 per night or more above usual prices for equivalent properties at other times during the year.

“Those who took advantage of the price gouging of London hotels early by listing their properties and pricing them affordably reaped the biggest rewards,” explained Arnaud Bertrand, CEO of HouseTrip. “But the big opportunities haven’t ended with the Games. In fact, the Olympics have proven to be just the tip of the iceberg. With the higher profile of London, we anticipate that interest will continue to soar. While the games period has caused a loss from our larger domestic and French markets, the interest in London and strong London brand image created by the games has translated into booming numbers as the year continues.

“We look at the Games as an investment into the future and have large-scale investment plans scheduled for the future to capitalise on this interest.”