Olympic fans visiting London for the 2012 Games are being urged to book their hotel accommodation early. The latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) has revealed a 14% rise in room rates for those travelling to New Zealand for the current Rugby World Cup.

And in London, increases due to the Games are expected to eclipse the 3% rise - to an average £113 per night - during the Wimbledon Championships. Alison Couper, from Hotels.com, said: "Prestige sporting events are one of the key drivers of hotel prices and can lead to double-digit percentage increases, as many rugby fans are finding at the moment.

"What is happening in New Zealand and what happened in South Africa could provide a foretaste for what might occur in London next year. "It is expected that several thousand additional hotel rooms will be available in the city in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

"However, despite the extra capacity, we would urge people thinking of coming to the capital next summer to book their accommodation as soon as they can as the demand and prices are likely to soar the closer we get to the event.

"London is always popular with both domestic and foreign travellers but the Games are set to take that popularity to a whole new level."

The Hotels.com HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room - rather than advertised rates - for 125,000 properties across more than 19,000 locations around the world. The latest HPI looks at prices in the first half of 2011 compared to those in the first half of 2010.

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