London: Coming for the Olympics with money to spend? Then there's still time to ensure you can take tea at The Ritz, drink at the Savoy's American bar, or sleep in an Art Deco room at Claridge's.

Most of London's most exclusive hotels have been booked for the Olympics, snapped up by Olympic officials or companies block-booking rooms for favoured customers, but there are still amazing places to stay.

That is, if you can afford the bill.

"You can still get some rooms in certain periods of the games, although we expect to be fully booked soon," said Simon Negger, spokesman for the Maybourne Hotel Group that owns three of London's most iconic hotels: Claridge's, The Connaught and The Berkeley.

London's hotels are walking on their own balance beam this Olympic year, trying to maximise revenues during the July 27-August 12 event while not alienating loyal customers and still fulfilling obligations to Olympic organisers, who asked all hotels to hand over some rooms to house Olympic officials, athletes and delegates during the London Games.

Claridge's still has rooms available — from around £600 (Dh3,527) for a double room to over £1,000 for a suite — but wants customers to book a minimum of five nights over the Olympic period.

The Savoy, which was refurbished in time for the Olympics, can put you up for one night but only if you are prepared to pay at least £2,750 for one of its suites on the banks of the Thames River.

At The Ritz you can stay for just one night if you want to, at rooms costing from £755 to £3,255.

The Olympic organisers are partly responsible for the fact that there are still hotel rooms free. Hotels began getting calls from customers wanting to book rooms for the London games years ago, but organisers had asked hotels to hand over 40,000 rooms to house Olympic dignitaries. In January, they handed 8,000 rooms back for hotels to sell to the general public. And it may well hand more rooms back in the next few weeks.

The new wave of London hotels, meanwhile, specialise in keeping the public away. With Britain's economy still struggling, these new properties have been welcome investments, funded by businessmen from the Gulf states looking to create the kind of places they would like to stay.

Arab tourists

"People from the Arab world feel at ease in London," said Gerald Lawless, executive chairman of the Jumeirah Group that is expanding its brand around the world.

"They often studied in Britain as students and are very loyal to the city. They want places they visit often."

Jumeirah's latest project — Grosvenor House Apartments — is typical of the new breed of hotels. The apartments off London's prestigious Park Lane, which opened on April 2, are built for those seeking quiet and high security and don't care how much it costs. The smallest apartment costs £1,500 a night, with a minimum stay of a week.