InterContinental Hotels expects its London rooms "to be about 90% full" for the Olympic Games, according to David Jones of REUTERS. InterContinental's Chris Hale, the company's head of London 2012, said that its key revenue measure "could also be boosted." He also responded to criticism that rooms during the Games "are too expensive" by pointing to "lots" of availability at less than £100 ($160) a night. Hale expects the group's 10,000 hotel rooms in the city "to be largely full" despite Games organisers "releasing thousands of pre-booked hotel rooms back on the open market" this year (REUTERS, 6/12).
CAMBODIA'S NEW SPONSOR: In Phnom Penh, H S Manjunath reported that Vattanac Bank has joined the nation's list of official sponsors for the Summer Games. A website and Facebook fanpage have been created to raise awareness of the London-bound athletes (PHNOM PENH POST, 6/12).
FESTIVAL CANCELLED: In London, John Reynolds reported that Coca-Cola-owned smoothie brand Innocent has "axed plans to host a festival" to promote its sponsorship of the London Games "due to poor ticket sales." Innocent had organized a Fruit Sports Day to take place in Regent’s Park on July 22. It cancelled the event citing "an overcrowded summer schedule in the capital and bad weather" as reasons (BRAND REPUBLIC, 6/12).
NEW MADRID LOGO: The Madrid 2020 Olympic bid is now sporting the Olympic rings alongside its logo. The winning host city of the 2020 Olympic Games will be announced at the 125th IOC Session, to be held in Buenos Aires in Sept. '13. In conjunction with the new Candidate City logo, the Madrid 2020 bid has also made changes to its website, the idea being to make it more socially inclusive and interactive for the public (Madrid 2020).
