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Where are the hotels?


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They've just got to make sure that train line is up and running smoothly. If not they've got trouble.

I have to agree your opinion.

It's ridiculous idea to establish a port near there. The only think I don't hope is that people staying PC won't have problems like past F1 games in S.Korea! :D

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I have to agree your opinion.

It's ridiculous idea to establish a port near there. The only think I don't hope is that people staying PC won't have problems like past F1 games in S.Korea! :D

That's what is making me worked! The f1 situation has been a disaster.

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I don't see what is ridiculous with a port. The approach was used successfully in Sochi. There were seven cruise ships there, offering much needed accommodation capacity to the Olympics.

Edited by hektor
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  • 2 years later...

There are limited hotels in Gangneung (mostly south of the city along the coast) but it is too early to try to find any availability.  CoSport will probably suck up whatever is left over after the IOC/NOCs grab what they need.  Alpensia itself will also probably be pointlessly pricey if available at all.

There is still nothing confirmed about cruise ships and I haven't read anything about the construction of a new harbour (there is not a suitable one there now).

I'm expecting to have to stay in Seoul and commute.  The bullet train should be open in time.  If it isn't - I doubt I'll be going.  Of course there will be no guarantee of completion when the tickets go on sale early next year...

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Even if they do complete the bullet train, it will be almost impossible to get between Seoul and the venues.  Think of the number of people who will need to take the trains at any specific time.  I believe the reports say there will be 10 bullet trains.  Each will carry about 400 passengers.  So in 2 hours (1 hour each way), you will be able to only get 4,000 people between the two cities.  Think of the opening ceremony.  You have a venue that holds 50,000 people.  Maybe half of those people will be living / staying in the local area.  This still means you will have 20-25,000 people that will need to get out of the Olympic area.  In addition to the bullet train you will have other high speed rails but that will not add significant capacity.

I see a major transportation issue if they don't find a way to house more people near the venues.

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There are likely tons of places to stay that aren't hotels that show up on western sites like TripAdvisor or Hotels.com. If you want that Western hotel experience, be prepared to commute far, pay through the nose, or play chicken with the IOC and wait for them to release the rooms they overbooked a month before the games. 

I stayed with a stranger in Rio booked through Airbnb and it worked out great. But Airbnb has been up and running in Rio for a while now, so I had tons of choices including many hosts with lots of reviews. That won't be the case for Korea, where Airbnb is still technically illegal. But there are already some English-language listings with English-language reivews in places like Gangneung.

I'm also looked at hotels, inns, etc. on the coast north of Gangneung. While I worry about train service from Seoul -> PyeongChang, I'm sure it will be working between PyeongChang and Gangneung. There seem to be a number of places to stay, as the coast has a decent amount of summer vacation infrastructure. 

One thing I really want to see before booking are the event times. How early will snow events start? Will there be events running late into the night?

But there's always someplace to stay. 

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  • 4 months later...

We are now basically 1 year away from the Olympics.  Tickets will start being released in about 3-4 weeks.  What does everyone think is the best bet for hotels? 

 

Will they complete the high speed train from Seoul??????  Even if they do, from what I recall, the trip will take about 2 hours.  Also, after any of the "late" ceremonies or games, there may be a long wait for a train as each train will only hold about 410 people. 

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The complete lack of information on transportation and housing has erased my previous optimism... not feeling good at all. I've was looking at possible tickets tonight, and have ruled out anything ending late at night. Right now, I'm leaning towards getting no tickets until after I know what my housing and transportation will be like. 

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Glad I am not the only one with such feeling.  For the transportation, they keep talking about the high speed rail but there are no details of where the stations will be - the only Seoul station that is talked about is the airport - which is not convenient if you are staying in the city.  If you look at hotels in Seoul, some of the chains do take reservations 13 months out.  Those hotels that do go out 13 months, virtually all have availability (mostly prepaid).  That tells me that the IOC and corporations have not booked the Seoul hotels.

Since I can book a room on points that is refundable, I may take a flyer and do that.  Will not cost anything if I cancel and I would have a room if we decide to go.

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The lack of information is definitely concerning. Between hotels and transportation, most of the small amount of information out there is in Korean.

From what I can tell, there aren't that many hotels in the Pyeongchang area, at least not from Western-based chains (2 Holiday Inns and an InterContinental notwithstanding). Commuting in from Seoul every day just sounds tiring.

I may go ahead and submit a ticket request (just to see what I could get) but save my money for 2020 or 2024.

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I made a hotel reservation at the Westin Chosun Seoul for 2/7/18 through 2/17/18.  Nice thing is that since I was using Starwood points I was able to book a refundable room.  If you pay cash, almost all the rooms are prepaid.  I can now put in for tickets and see what happens and what the transportation options are closer to the time.

I will probably actually not go to Seoul just because of the transportation time - but this keeps my options open.  To me Tokyo is much more interesting in that hotels should not be an issue and transportation is significantly easier (but very crowded).

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  • 2 weeks later...

On the website of the German ATR it is said that the high speed trains needs appr. 100 minutes for Seoul to Jinbu (Station in the Mountain Cluster) and appr. 120 minutes for Seoul to Gangneung (coastal cluster).

I can imagine that you will need appr. 3 hours from hotel (Seoul) to the venue in the Mountain Cluster and appr. 3 1/2 hours to the venue in the Coastal Cluster (the venues are not right at the train station like the hotel in Seoul) - but there is nothing said about how often the high speed train will run and when the train traffic starts in the morning resp. ends in the night...

That means the people will have to travel 6 hours to/back venue/hotel on their "ticket days", when they stay in Seoul...

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On 1/25/2017 at 10:29 AM, Citius Altius Fortius said:

On the website of the German ATR it is said that the high speed trains needs appr. 100 minutes for Seoul to Jinbu (Station in the Mountain Cluster) and appr. 120 minutes for Seoul to Gangneung (coastal cluster).

I can imagine that you will need appr. 3 hours from hotel (Seoul) to the venue in the Mountain Cluster and appr. 3 1/2 hours to the venue in the Coastal Cluster (the venues are not right at the train station like the hotel in Seoul) - but there is nothing said about how often the high speed train will run and when the train traffic starts in the morning resp. ends in the night...

That means the people will have to travel 6 hours to/back venue/hotel on their "ticket days", when they stay in Seoul...

From what I can find, each of the bullet trains will carry 410 passengers. They will also only have 10 of the train "sets". If you assume a 90 minute one way trip, this means that it takes 3 hours for a train to make a round trip.  Doing a quick calculation, they will only be able to transport less than 1,500 passengers per hour in each direction.  They may be able to "stack" multiple trains at one end of the line in the evening or morning which would help but not solve the problem.  "Stacking" all trains at one end (which is probably impossible) would still only allow you to transport 4,000 people.  Not nearly enough when you talk about an event like Opening.  Just think of getting out of an event at 10:00 PM and trying to get back to Seoul! Based on this, staying in Seoul does not really seem to be an option.  Here is the article that talks about the rail system:  http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1035241/bullet-train-for-pyeongchang-2018-unveiled-by-hyundai-rotem

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The good news is the trains will probably transport a lot more than 410 passengers each. 410 is the number of seats. The bad news is a (90?) minute ride on a standing room only train doesn't sound like a lot of fun. 

Also, remember that, especially for an event like the ceremonies, a lot of the crown will be Olympic family, VIP's, sponsor's etc. that will have their own transportation. They won't be running everybody back to Seoul on the train.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For those of you planning your trips, this might add some info regarding the high speed train and the viability of staying in Seoul versus Gangneung:

Quote

 

Chef de Missions raise concerns over accommodation and transport at Pyeongchang 2018

National Olympic Committees have raised concerns regarding accommodation and transport plans during the ongoing Pyeongchang 2018 Chef de Mission Seminar, insidethegames understands.

It comes with exactly a week until the one year anniversary until the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

A total of 132 NOC delegates are visiting the South Korean county for a three-day session in which they are inspecting venues while also receive presentations on Games-time operations and services.

"Everyone was really impressed by construction progress of the venues as well as the compact nature of the clusters," one individual present told insidethegames.

"However, there were some serious concerns raised regarding accommodation and transport."

One aspect related to a lack of hotels in mountain clusters which could mean that vital team officials and coaches will have to stay in the Gangneung coastal cluster.

Rooms in the Athletes’ Village are already thought to be too small for any more people to be added.

Mobile housing is thus being considered one alternative option.

Accommodation is thought to be particularly scarce at the Bokwang cluster where freestyle skiing and snowboard events will take place.

The IOC has also admitted that travel times from accommodation may be "longer than expected" for some groups.

Transport concerns relate primarily to the high-speed railway connection between Incheon International Airport, Seoul and the Pyeongchang region itself.

At present, athletes are due to travel on the high-speed railway once arriving in South Korea while their luggage and equipment will follow in logistics trucks.

Accredited personnel such as media and other officials are also expected to use the connection - which should reduce four hour journey times by half - as well as spectators.

There are therefore concerns that more than the expected capacity of 20,000 people per day could attempt to make the journey.

With the last trains due to leave Games venues at 11pm, there are also worries over how spectators watching sport finishing later in the evening will be able to return to Seoul.

This is a particularly poignant because the lack of hotel space in both mountain and coastal clusters means some spectators, including family and friends of athletes, could be forced to make the journey north-east from the South Korean capital each day.

The railway is due to be completed in June but is not scheduled to be fully open to the public until December.

This creates a sense of déjà vu after the high-speed railway connecting the main Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca with the city centre in Rio de Janeiro opened just the month before last year’s Games began.

There is more time for testing on this occasion but there is also a far greater reliance on the railway link for all personnel attending the Games.

insidethegames understands that some of the world's leading winter nations were among those to raise concerns during the Seminar.

On the other hand, logistical problems such as transport are invariably a concern before a Games and South Korean organisers still have plenty of time to make the required changes.

Anticipated problems before the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Games did not truly materialise.  

“The need for more accommodation for Officials in the Mountain Cluster was raised during the meeting,” a Pyeongchang 2018 spokesperson explained to insidethegames.

“Pyeongchang 2018 plans to propose a solution to the IOC within the next few weeks.

“For transportation, Pyeongchang 2018 is evaluating and analysing different arrivals and departures processes for various client groups, including spectators, during the peak times.

“Sport equipment will be transported from the airport directly to venues in logistics trucks.”

...

The IOC also admitted that accommodation, in particular, was a concern.

“The Chef de Mission meeting allows the Chefs to understand the Games project more fully and to raise any possible issues, so that, if necessary, solutions can be found," a spokesperson told insidethegames.

"On transport, we are confident that Pyeongchang 2018 and the Republic of Korea will deliver a solid transportation system with the new high-speed train and new roads expected to be fully ready ahead of the Games. 

"On accommodation, conditions have changed since the candidature with fewer properties in the mountains materialising than expected. 

"Pyeongchang 2018 is working on a solution for accommodation in the mountains but some travel times for some groups may be longer than initially expected.”

Insidethegames

 

 

Edited by Sir Rols
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Thank you for the information.  It looks like they will not allow "standing room" on the trains.  This is based on the fact that each train can probably make 5 or possibly 6 round trips per day.  At 410 passengers, this would make 20,000 people (which is the stated daily capacity) based on 5 RT.  The comment that "Accredited personnel such as media and other officials are also expected to use the connection" is also very disconcerting because that will take away from the available train seats - especially those later at night.

If you look at the event schedule, even the Opening Ceremony is scheduled to end at 10:35 PM so the chances of making the 11:00 train would be very small.  Can't imagine what would happen if you were at a later event and could not get on the train back to Seoul.

I suspect that unless they can come up with alternate accommodations that are close to the venues, they will have a real lack of attendance.  I think we will probably just avoid these Olympics and concentrate on going to Tokyo.

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While i've been pleased with the preparation for the games so far, I also felt the transport issue was probably the weakest point of this edition. If they dont make a good plan to the IOC on the next weeks/months this could spell doom for the games when it comes to attendance. They should had built some more hotels in the mountain cluster but I guess they avoided doing it due to the possible ecological impact it would had dealt (and many enviromentalists were and are still kind of angry at these games for the negative effects it could have on the Pyeongchang mountains)

They should open the railway earlier than expected and not just December to give them more time to test it. PC still has plenty of time to solve these problems but they better move fast already before it's too late.

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4 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

While i've been pleased with the preparation for the games so far, I also felt the transport issue was probably the weakest point of this edition. If they dont make a good plan to the IOC on the next weeks/months this could spell doom for the games when it comes to attendance. They should had built some more hotels in the mountain cluster but I guess they avoided doing it due to the possible ecological impact it would had dealt (and many enviromentalists were and are still kind of angry at these games for the negative effects it could have on the Pyeongchang mountains)

They should open the railway earlier than expected and not just December to give them more time to test it. PC still has plenty of time to solve these problems but they better move fast already before it's too late.

Even if they open the railway earlier and do testing, it will not resolve the issue.  There is limited capacity on the trains (about 1,200 - 1,400 passengers per hour max) so even if it is running at 100% getting to Seoul with a 90 minute train ride is problematical.  Just the Ice Arena holds 12,000 people. If you assume only 25% of the people need to get from the venue to Seoul, it would take up 2 hours of train capacity alone - and I can't see anyone taking the "normal" train / bus to Seoul and spending 3-4 hours one way.  Then you need to get from the train station to your hotel.  I have not been able to find anything about the stations that the bullet train will use - only that it will be a "direct" train from Incheon Airport.  If it does not stop in the city, that adds additional time and complexities to getting to your hotel.

So basically I don't see a real solution to the hotel / transportation problem.  Probably too late to add additional trains and it is obviously too late to build additional hotels near the venues.

Am I missing something?

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