Neil Williams wrote:
In most other countries I expect they would be unavailable and it
would just be a "tourist tax". Or a city tax would be charged on
hotel rooms and a free ticket issued for everyone staying.

I wonder if, say, a £3 per day flat-rate fee on hotel rooms and give
everyone a free Z1-2 travelcard would do the trick - not everyone will use
it but it solves the problem for the rest.

There could also be machines at exit stations for converting Oyster cards
into cash - the hotel takes a deposit for the card, the deposit is returned
when you exit your last station in London.

The only question is for people buying the ticket from their plane/train
terminus and the hotel before they pick up their travelcard. Maybe the
hotel issues a code so you can collect that Oyster from a machine when you
arrive.

Theo