Athletes are already settling into their accommodations as the Olympic flame rapidly approaching its final destination on the Seine — but there’s still time to book a last-minute flight to Paris, if you’re suddenly seized with the desire to watch the 33rd Olympiad in person.
While Paris is typically a quintessential destination for European summer vacations, this year the City of Lights is actually seeing a decrease in luxury travelers. UMIH Prestige, a trade group for hotels that charge at least €800 ($870) per evening, reported a 20% to 50% decrease in hotel bookings compared to last summer, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
“Paris is currently seeing a severe drop in demand for luxury hotel rooms in the run-up to the Games,” UMIH Prestige head Christophe Laure told the outlet, noting that many travelers are choosing to avoid the city until after the closing ceremonies.
“They’re instead picking the French Riviera or other cities such as London and will come to Paris at another moment,” Laure said.
Some experts note that it’s not uncommon for a pre-games drop in demand, particularly due to the fact that prices can often surge in the months and weeks leading up to the Olympics before stabilizing at a more affordable rate.
“What we compare to is London in 2012 — where the hotels in London were very expensive at the beginning and they had to bring down the prices,” Christophe Decloux, director-general for tourism in the Paris Region, told the Independent in March. Decloux added that bookings increased “as soon as the prices met the actual demand of the customer.”
While the in-person audience for the Paris Olympics might be primarily Parisians, there are many exciting accommodations available for the coming weeks and beyond. Read on to see some of the most luxurious hotels and short-term rentals in Paris as selected by Quartz.
