Let's talk about the upcoming Olympics and how to get tickets. Ever wonder how easy or hard it is to get into the Olympics? Take a listen!
Hey guys, welcome to this podcast of the TGE Travel Chronicles. Just got back from Peru a little bit ago. Was an awesome, amazing trip we'll talk about that soon, as soon as I release my next video. What I really want to talk about today is the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020 and the ticket prices for it, ticket availability, how to try to get tickets. I really don't talk or write a lot about the Olympics just because the IOC has really clamped down on their copyright and branding and even when I was in the Rio Games in 2016 you can't even do a Facebook live event and film yourself and what was going on at the Olympics. That's how clamped down it was.
I was at a basketball game and 30 seconds in just cut it off and wiped from my Facebook page and I'm just like, 'the heck.' And then come to find out the IOC, pretty much anything that's not authorized by IOC, is deleted off social media just because they make so much money from their rights, you know, NBC and these different broadcasting companies, they make so much money off of that, they're super, super protective of it. So, that's why I really don't film a lot at the Olympics or talk about the Olympics and I've been going since 2010. I've been going since Vancouver, so this will be my sixth Olympics coming up next year. Of course my good friend Tito, goes to a lot of the Olympics with me. He's been to every single one but two of them with me. And I just want to talk about the upcoming Olympics, how bad it's going to be with tickets.
When I first went to Vancouver, I didn't really realize how valuable the tickets are sometimes. I flew into Vancouver, didn't have anything on me ticket wise, went to a ticket booth and they pretty much told me, "Okay, well you know, we have hockey, we have curling, we have this, we have that." And not a big deal, I was just like, "Okay, cool. Let me get a ticket for hockey. Let me get a ticket for curling, and we're good."
So, when London came around in 2012, I flew into London fully expecting that it'd be like Vancouver, no issues with ticket prices, no issues getting tickets. Like I'll get whatever I wanted. London was an eye-opening experience because London, I couldn't get tickets for anything, I couldn't find resell tickets, I literally spent most of the time either at the hotel in the club lounge watching the Olympics from the club lounge, going around playing tourist in London since that was my first time in London proper. And the only thing I really saw from the Olympics was a part of the marathon race, because the marathon race is technically free because they close off the marathon track and then anyone can go and watch it. So, that's the only event I saw in London.
And so I'm like, how do I go about getting tickets? So there is a few options. So, first batch of tickets always goes towards the local home country first. So, if you're hosting the Olympics and you live there, you get first dips. And of course they have different categories. They have A, B, C, sometimes D and so obviously D and C are cheaper, they're the nosebleeds are higher up and then you have B and A seats. If you don't live in that country, then after that round happens, then it goes to authorized ticket resellers, which in the United States is a company called CoSport.
CoSport, I bought tickets through CoSport for Sochi thinking I was going to have a relapse of London and then be like, 'I'm not going to get anything, this is going to be just another poor experience.' So I went through CoSport, bought tickets through CoSport. Then when I actually got to Sochi, come to find out they weren't really selling tickets that much because there's issues with transportation, there's issues with hotels being open in time. I knew when I was there that the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott, they were supposed to be open, weren't open in time for the Olympics so people were out of hotel rooms, they couldn't find somewhere to stay and it was just all around just poor pre-planning on that part for Sochi.
So, I went there and the ticket booth, they literally had anything and everything you wanted, ticket wise. And so, I'm just kind of like, 'Okay, well do I really need to go through CoSport.' Well, come to find out that CoSport actually resells the tickets at a market rate that benefits them and they can tack on additional, I think 10 or 15%. So it's like you're paying top dollar prices for tickets who really shouldn't be top dollar.
So, after Rio happened then for Sochi, I got tickets for Rio at the Games just because the news articles were saying, 'Oh you know, they're trying to give away tickets, no one's coming, they're not hitting their expected targets.' So I held off, I didn't buy tickets on CoSport. I was like, 'Okay, you know, I'll wait and see how this plays out.' And then I come to find out, 'Yeah, I can get whatever I want in Rio.' So same thing with Pyeongchang and last year 2018 kind of wait and see how to play it out, didn't want to buy tickets ahead of time. And same thing, got pretty much almost wherever I wanted, but surprisingly curling was sold out. Yeah, curling, sold out, every single day I was there, and I was there five days and I was like, 'interesting.'.
So, for Tokyo 2020 of course I'm over here thinking I'm just going to wait 'til the last minute. Same thing, it's not going to be huge demand. Well, there's these news articles coming out and I'm reading one right now about how bad it is getting tickets, how there's even a hotel package. Well there's a package for $60,000. $60,000 will get you opening and closing ceremonies, nine days of track and field, luxury seating and dining. 60 grand. US dollars. They had a lottery in Japan for tickets and only about eight to 10% of people that actually put in for lottery, got tickets.
And even with CoSport, they released a batch at a certain date but they keep getting more tickets and slowly releasing without saying anything because they don't want to overload their servers, which is totally understandable. But even then, tickets are selling out super quick. And so now it's like we're reliving what happened with London and 2012, where I feel like there's going to be this huge demand for tickets, there's still going to be empty seats because a certain percentage of the seats actually go towards press, media, sponsors. But since they started to give away tickets, you're not obligated to go. So it's like, 'Well, okay, I don't have to go.' And then you don't show up, and so it looks like there's empty seats in the stands when there really isn't. But, I wish there was a better way of delegating the sponsorship tickets and it'd be like, 'Okay, are you actually going to show up or not, because if not, then we'd rather resell it for someone who is actually there that wants to go, who wants to see these events, see these great athletic achievements.
So, the prices vary. Of course, they always tack on like, 'Oh, you know, there's going to be tickets for 20 Yen, which is about $19. And it's like, 'Yeah, that's pretty much only for locals. Those tickets are pretty much already sold out. We're looking at paying pretty good money because right now what's going on is that in the next month or two, they're going to have another lottery. So, going to have another lottery then going to see what type of ticket allotment they have and then they're going to go one more time and then sometime next spring, so sometime either February or March, then anything else that's left over, then all of a sudden becomes available to the general public at the Japanese prices, the local prices, through the actual website.
That I believe is just going to be an absolute free for all, because if the demand is like what it is now, like it was for London, it's going to be ridiculous. Hotel prices are also strong too as well. But the other thing that happened when I went to London was that pretty much the Marriott Starwood site, everything was blocked out for those dates, couldn't get a room, everything was blocked out. And then about a month out, when they realized a lot of these people visiting the Olympics are actually locals, they live here, we're not really getting a lot of out-of-towners. All of a sudden you would see inventory open up and I ended up getting a room in Marriott Park Lane, just really nice hotel right in downtown London. And I ended up using points. They have points reservations available and so it's just like 'Wow, okay. First you're full but you're not.'.
But they were blocking inventory because they have to hold off rooms for the IOC, there's a couple of other corporate sponsors, because I knew the hotel I stayed at had extra security because the Kenyan national track and field team was actually staying at that hotel, a bunch of big wigs from McDonald's were staying there, so I can understand why. So, if you are planning to go to the Olympics and you can't find room inventory that you want, hold off 'til about a month or two prior because usually at that point they can realize who is actually going to use the rooms, who's not, how many? And then whatever excess inventory they have leftover, then they pretty much let it go, and it's a free for all. So, I highly recommend that.
Also Airbnb is pretty big on the scene now because back when I first started doing the Olympics, Airbnb really wasn't huge and now it is pretty big. Last Olympics I stayed at an Airbnb in a condo because out in Pyeongchang there really isn't any Americanized hotels, there's only a Holiday Inn and an Intercontinental in Pyeongchang by the ski slopes. And of course that's all full and taken by the IOC. I already knew those are pretty small hotels. So it's like, 'Yeah, that inventory is not going to happen.' So ended up getting Airbnb at a condo by the Olympic Park where the opening ceremonies were at and that was amazing. It was really cool. It was actually a decent price.
But Japan, it's ridiculous because there was an Airbnb I stayed at a couple of months ago when I went to Tokyo, and it was eight bedrooms, there was no living rooms and it was super, super narrow hallways with like a little kitchen. But, it was literally perfect for what I needed. Because pretty much it's like, 'Oh, I just need a bunch of beds for a bunch of people, couple of bathrooms, the kitchen, just good to go.' So that place usually went for let's say, about 300, 350 a night, which, if you have 12, 14 people, that's pretty good, split it, no big deal.
During the time of the Olympics, it's jacked up obviously. Jacked up a lot. Like 1,400 a night a lot. And I even messaged them, I was like, 'Hey, I stayed with you guys in January, is there any way you can cut me a little break.' Because I was ready to throw down money and be like, 'Hey, I'm willing to reserve it, guarantee I'll get you just cut me a break.' And obviously they wouldn't budge. So, getting rooms in Tokyo will be a challenge. I mean, the inventory leases there like London, but we'll have to just wait and see for that.
So, moral of the story is trying to get tickets for Tokyo. I highly recommend holding off, holding off until the spring when the ticket resell happens for the general public and the Japanese prices actually post up. Because if you're going to go, why pay an extra 20 to 30% more to buy it now thru a reseller. When there's opportunity, it depends upon the event you want to see though, if there's something deep down in your heart you truly want to see and you truly want to go and you know you want to see it, I would buy it. I mean obviously don't wait. But if you're just trying to fill in your schedule and your dates, wait. I would wait. I'm not really particular in any event, I just like going there for seeing everyone from around the world, the camaraderie, the sportsmanship, and it's just an amazing event and it's amazing to meet and see different people from all over the world congregate at one spot, and it's pretty amazing.
And for those of you planning your day at the Olympics, I personally highly recommend you give yourself a lot of time in between, then use it, if not in the same clusters, or try to plan your day within the same cluster. Because when I first started going to the Olympics, I was hopping all over the place. In Sochi I did an event, I did curling, and then I did the luge event and I'm thinking like, 'Oh yeah, no big deal, it's the Olympics, they're all super close.' No. So from curling, it was on the coast in Sochi in the big Olympic Park. Then they have the Alpine Park.
The thing though, is that you had to take the train from the Olympic Park up to the Alpine Park, it only ran about once every half hour and it was about a good hour ride up. So, if you didn't plan it right, you were planning on maybe not getting there for another two hours. And of course the events were like hour, hour and a half in between. And so of course we missed the start of the luge event. And so if you do go to the Olympics, I mean everything on the map when you look at it look really close and compact and easy. No.
Give yourself tons of time if you're transferring between clusters, but if you're within the same cluster and everything's just right there, then it's real easy. Because, last time I went and everything was in the same cluster, like in Sochi, speed skating, figure skating, curling, they're all in the same cluster and if they're all in the same area then not a huge deal. Literally, it's only maybe like 10, five minute, like five, 10 minute walk, tops.
So, if you do plan to go to the Olympics and getting tickets, make sure you try to plan your day strategically. Make sure you stay in the same cluster, unless if there's something you absolutely want to see and you only can get tickets for a certain event, then plan a lot of travel time in between the clusters when you're actually there.
So, other than that, this is it for this episode, talking about Olympic tickets and just the Olympics in general. TGE Travel Chronicles. Thank you very much.