More than a year before the first starter's pistol fires at the Beijing Olympics, competition is rife for what may be spectators' biggest prize - a comfortable hotel room within range of top sports venues.

City tourism officials and Olympics organisers are confident Beijing's 700-plus star-rated hotels can absorb the onslaught of half a million foreign and domestic visitors expected each day for 17 days beginning August 8, 2008.

But some of the best hotels are already fully booked, and 122 of the three-, four- and five-star hotels closest to the Olympic venues are at least 70 percent filled after Olympics officials, sponsors and media locked up 30,000 rooms.

"No need to wait. Book it now, hurry up," suggested Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Administration, in an interview with Reuters.

Tens of thousands of rooms are still available, but free-wheeling capitalism is already pushing prices well over double normal rates.

City officials say they will not restrict hotel profits, and standard rooms being cited by travel agents surpass $325 a night at some 3-star hotels to $500-$775 at luxury 5-star hotels.

"My advice is: please make reservations in advance, as early as possible," said Xiong.

But booking now is not so easy.

Potential visitors will find online booking a frustrating tangle. For instance, online reservation sites of some luxury hotels prevent bookings more than a year in advance.

Others say they are full or offer conflicting and confusing information. None of the sites in a random sampling stated precisely what the room rates would be.

FRUITLESS

Visits to several international hotels in Beijing were equally fruitless. Asked about Olympics period reservations, some hotel staff consulted supervisors and finally advised potential guests to check back later.

At the 5-star Kempinski Hotel not far from the main Olympic site, a receptionist said a delegation of Germans had already booked all 526 rooms.

Then the hotel's revenue manager, Graham Barlow, said the hotel was "in the midst of trying to secure bookings" and said potential guests were being put on a waiting list.

The hotel's online booking system gave the message: "unfortunately, the property is sold out".

Hotels close to the sports venues are in high demand.

But do not even think about trying to book a room in the closest hotels, including the Beijing Continental Grand Hotel and the Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Beijing hotel, both within minutes of the main Olympics site.

More than 95 percent of their rooms were snapped up by the Beijing Olympics organising committee.

"Our choice of hotels was according to several factors: first of all is location, whether they are close to our competition venues," said Penny Xiang, deputy director of Games Services for the Beijing Organizing Committee, which secured rooms for Olympics dignitaries, staff, sponsors as well as international media.

Working through a travel agent may be easier, since some have relationships with networks of hotels. But prepare to pay the full tab three months ahead of the Games, they say.

Hotels are also imposing other restrictions, like minimum stays and minimum beverage purchases, in one case up to $250 a day.

"At the moment, it's a seller's market. It's an opportunity for them to make good money," said Alfred Li, product manager at FCM Travel Solutions in Beijing, which just booked an entire 5-star hotel for an Australian company.

"Now most hotels want to sell rooms in group packages of 18 to 30 days at a minimum. Six months before the Olympics, if there are still a lot of rooms, they'll have to become more flexible."

Another unpredictable factor is how many of China's 1.3 billion people might converge on Beijing.

Of the event's 7 million tickets, 75 percent are targeted for domestic visitors, but city officials expect fewer than 150,000 daily visitors from within China.

Overflow contingency plans include tapping hotels in surrounding suburbs and towns of Hebei province, even as far away as coastal Tianjin, some 115 kms (about 70 miles) to the east.

"We have to estimate and calculate very carefully, and never make any giddy-headed decisions," said Xiong.

"I am bearing some pressure, but not too heavy for me to lose sleep. I'm confident in Beijing."