Hotel rooms in downtown Vancouver are almost entirely booked for the 2010 Winter Games, with most of the rooms reserved by VANOC. (CBC)

The 2010 Olympics are a year away, but already the majority of hotels in downtown Vancouver are fully booked — not by tourists planning to attend the Games, but by Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee.

Tina Beaudry-Mellor, from Regina, is just one of many Canadians who planned to travel to Vancouver to cheer on her country's athletes during the Games.

Beaudry-Mellor said her family was prepared to pour $20,000 into the local economy while touring the province during the Olympics, but may now scrap their plans entirely because they can't find a room.

Beaudry-Mellor has been calling VANOC for months, trying to get an answer.

"We've had nothing but difficulty trying to do that," she said. "What we eventually found out is that VANOC has blocked off the majority of hotel rooms in downtown Vancouver."

VANOC said it has booked 21,000 of the 23,000 available hotel rooms indefinitely in order to meet its contractual obligations.

Many of the rest are being booked by Olympic sponsors, which leaves just a few thousand rooms for spectators — and so far, hotels are holding those back as well.

"People can't get rooms that want to go and cheer on Canadian athletes. That, to me, is completely absurd," Beaudry-Mellor said.

Look to alternative accommodations: VANOC

VANOC vice-president of operations Terry Wright said it's unlikely tourists will get access to any of the rooms Olympic organizers have booked.

"I would expect we would give very little up right now because sponsors, broadcasters, press … we've had unprecedented demand from all of them," Wright said.

"[At] most hotels, we have 80 per cent of the inventory. They held 20 per cent back for their regular customers, but what that means for people, if they want a traditional hotel, [is] they'll have to go to the suburbs or wait until closer in."

It's possible sponsors could give up some of their hotel bookings closer to the Games, Wright said, but Beaudry-Mellor's best bet is likely a bed and breakfast in the suburbs.

"I think it's premature to send a message that the town is sold out because there is accommodation available, it's just not traditional accommodation," Wright said.

But that's not good enough for Beaudry-Mellor.

"I definitely want accountability from VANOC, but also from the three levels of government involved in this project," she said.

"Ultimately, they're going to come back to the Canadian taxpayer. When they have people who want to spend money and are excited about going and can't do that, it says that there's something fundamentally wrong with the way this organization is being run."

Beaudry-Mellor said she's written a letter of complaint to VANOC and all levels of government, but hasn't received a single response.