In some two-to-four star hotels in areas of the city where demand is weaker, room rates have been reduced for the Olympic period, the company said in a statement.

The report comes a week after an official of the Beijing Tourism Administration said that more than half the rooms in four-star hotels in Beijing over the Olympic period were still available, though bookings were edging up slowly. However, the government has said five-star hotels have booking rates of nearly 80 percent. Over the same period last year, four-star hotels had booking rates of close to 70 percent, but there are now 20 more hotels in Beijing competing for business.

Travelers could be hesitating because of anti-Chinese protests on the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and a huge earthquake in Sichuan.

There have also been warnings from Interpol that terrorists may target the Games, and the government has claimed to have broken up a plot by ethnic Uighurs from China’s restive far western region of --injiang to attack the Olympics.

Chinese police are investigating two bomb blasts that killed two passengers on Monday in the southwestern city of Kunming.

The attack, which came amid a nationwide security clamp down ahead of the Aug. 8-24 Games, also injured 14 people in the city, capital of the mountainous province of Yunnan.