Finding a hotel room in Paris during the Olympic Games this summer? No problem… if you pay the price. At the beginning of February, the average rate for a night in the Greater Paris metropolis is 522 euros during the competition period, according to figures from the tourist office. Prices have fallen: this average was 759 euros in September 2023. “We told the hoteliers: “Don’t raise the prices too much, because people will go elsewhere, notably to Airbnb, or they will manage elsewhere.” The law of supply and demand came into play, and prices fell. It’s a nice surprise”comments Frédéric Hocquard, the tourism assistant at Paris City Hall.
If prices have fallen, it is also because, in January, sports federations, which had pre-reserved a certain number of beds, began to cancel certain reservations. This has led hoteliers to put rooms back on the market. Others, not confirmed by these federations, should be released again in February.
“The more availability we have, the more prices drop”, confirms Fabienne Ardouin, vice-president of the GHR hoteliers’ union, who owns two hotels in Paris. Especially since there remains a significant volume of rooms to be filled: the occupancy rate is 62% on average in Paris for the period of the Games, according to a study by the MKG firm, specializing in the hotel market, which is based on a panel of 270 establishments.
“If we look at the situation in London [lors des Jeux en 2012], prices had fallen until the event, while remaining, at the end, twice as high as usual. During the Games, the hotel occupancy rate was lower than that usually observed in the summer. But, thanks to the price effect, the income of hoteliers increased by 40%”, explains Olivier Petit, from In Extenso, a consulting firm specializing in the hotel market.
“At some point, you have to be reasonable and honest”
Even if prices have fallen, they remain very high, especially when compared to July 2023: a room in Paris cost on average 202 euros. They also remain superior to those practiced during major events, such as Fashion Week or the Paris Air Show.
“Among hoteliers, we feel a certain frustration, because the rooms pre-reserved via the Olympic Committee were with much lower rates, negotiated at the time of the application, in 2017. This is why many are releasing their rooms on account -drops, to see how the market is evolving, and adjust their prices. It’s a classic practice”, explains Vanguélis Panayotis, president of the MKG firm. He adds that the increase in the tourist tax at the start of the year in Paris is also passed on, “without going into the pockets of hoteliers”.
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