Major US TV network NBC has hired out the entire Elbow Beach Hotel for a two-week period during the biggest sporting event of the year, the Olympics.

All 236 rooms at the South Shore hotel are to be taken over by NBC Sports for the last two weeks of August as the organisation entertains executives from companies buying advertIsements with the network during the event in Athens, Greece.

The hotel refused to say how much money it would make from the deal but, according to its website, room rates for that time of year vary from $485 per night for a single or $495 for a double deluxe ocean room with pool view to $1,040 for a three bedroom Royal Suite. If everyone stayed in a single room the figure for the 14-night stay would come to $1,602,440.

?It?s fairly common,? said NBC Sports? director of communications Mike McCarley.

?CBS did this for the Nagano Olympics, the Winter Games of 1998. They used a ski resort in Colorado where they would take guests.

?It?s pretty much for the ease of making the trip. It?s generally advertisers who, through part of their deal, get a trip based around the Olympics.

?Because Bermuda is easy to get to, it makes sense for those executives who can?t spend the time to go to Athens to go to Bermuda and get their business done that way.?

Kendaree Burgess-Fairn, director of communications, said the group booking would represent the largest ever accepted by the hotel. Asked the price-tag, she would only say it was ?substantial?.

?This piece of business came to us through our then director of sales and marketing, Randy Wilcott, who has a long-term relationship with NBC,? she said. ?They came here, there were several site visits, they liked what they saw. I know, according to Randy, they have very sophisticated, demanding clients and are wanting the best.?

Mrs. Burgess-Fairn said major post-Hurricane Fabian work ? the hotel lost Mickey?s Beach Bar, Lido Restaurant and The Deep nightclub ? would be finished in time for their visitors.

?As you may know, we are renovating all of our cottages and that?s 110 rooms in the grounds and they are all expected to be ready before they arrive. We are also completing a spa which will be ready earlier in the summer, so by the time NBC gets here Elbow will be very different from the one you see today.?

NBC will prove hook-ups to Europe and this is something that will have to be tackled by the hotel.

?We are expecting lots of special requests, but we get special requests every day from almost everyone that comes in the hotel and I am guessing that these guests will be no different, except that their requests may be more technology-based.?

Asked if it mattered to the hotel who was taking up residence, be it corporate or regular guests, she added with a chuckle: ?Not when every single room is booked for a solid two weeks!?

Obviously, Elbow Beach is hoping that there are major spin-offs from the venture, especially given the fact that NBC is bringing in clients who will have clients of their own back home.

Mrs. Burgess-Fairn added that Elbow?s good fortune would also rub off elsewhere.

?I would think that if someone as recognisable as NBC brings their clients it will give them an opportunity not just to look at Elbow Beach but to look at Bermuda,? she said. ?Hopefully, those clients can then consider Elbow Beach and Bermuda for their own clients. It?s a tremendous opportunity, not just for us, but for the whole of the Island because they are not going to be confined to the hotel.

?We are just glad that it is us.?