Giant Olympic rings made up of 25,000 flowers at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London with torchbearers, games makers, London 2012 festival participants and parents of TeamGB athletes mark 100 days before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, on April 18, 2012. The opening ceremony will take place on July 27, 2012.
Prices in the vacation rental market can be lower, since more and more flats and houses are coming onto the market as more homeowners and landlords realize the potential to make some quick cash.
Rental costs vary wildly: As low as 75 pounds ($120) for a room in someone's flat, to 20,000 pounds (nearly $32,000) a week for a luxury central London townhouse. Many people are asking four times more than the normal rent, Parker said.
There's evidently demand to sustain such high prices.
"I'm booked for the entire Olympic period," said Marina Usher Mazur, who is renting her 3-bedroom second home in Notting Hill to two American families for 6,000 pounds ($9,550) a week. That's more than double her normal rate, but she still received more than 30 responses.
"I had a couple people say, you're crazy. But it went pretty easily," she said. "I was amazed at how many people were interested."
It's not impossible to find budget options, though, as long as visitors are prepared to commute. Kent and Essex, for example, are to the east in the Greater London area, and have good connections to the Olympic Park. Events will be taking part across all corners of the capital, so taking the time to research transport links will help determine which suburb to choose from.
"Many events are held outside east London," Roche said. "If you know where you're going, there's no need to stay in central London."
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