As Paris Olympics loom, hotel industry has reservations
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Visitors tour the premises in front of the golden gates of the Chateau de Versailles, southwest of Paris, on June 7.
PHOTO: AFP
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PARIS – While accommodating potential Olympic visitors is one topic to fret about 12 months ahead of the Paris Games,
The Ile-de-France region, which includes historic suburbs such as Seine-Saint-Denis, home of the main Olympic sites, and Versailles, is neck and neck with London as the most-visited city in Europe.
The question is whether the Games will be a boon for the hotel sector, for visitors and for the locals.
Hotel professionals point to the risk of a “bad buzz” if the Games fail, yet they also warn that, following the example of previous hosts, the Olympics are certain to drive up prices for years to come.
“With the expected peak in visitor numbers, it’s clear that the Paris hotel network, which is much larger than that of Rio or Athens, will be saturated,” said Vanguelis Panayotis, president of specialist consultancy MKG Consulting.
“At the Rio Olympics in 2016, Airbnb helped to increase accommodation capacity. And at the Athens Olympics in 2004, large cruise liners were put in the port to cover accommodation needs,” he said.
Yet with the tourist industry growing, Paris is well supplied with hotel rooms.
In terms of “hotel density, Paris and its region are superior to New York and very well positioned compared to London”, said Vincent Bollaert, director of France for property specialists Knight Frank.
“We have a very high level of tourism: 45 million tourists staying here every year, and an extra 15 to 20 million are expected for the Olympic Games,” he said.
Panayotis adds an element of doubt.
“Some of the capital’s usual clientele are not likely to come. They are not interested in being in the rush of the Olympic Games,” he said.
“In London in 2012, there was no visitor boom, but those who came for the Games were prepared to pay much more: prices rose by 100 per cent and more, and they remained higher in subsequent years.”
There is also the concern that those who come do not enjoy their visit.
“It could even be extremely negative if what emerges from the Games is negative communication about the destination,” said Didier Arino, managing director of the Protourisme consultancy.
The positive contribution, he said, will come more from “the transformation, the urban developments, the creation of infrastructures that will be used afterwards, than from the Olympic Games’ tourism function alone”.
For hoteliers this long-term approach carried risks, said Panayotis. Prices “were negotiated before Covid. Except that we’re not at all in the same context, with high inflation: They need to be re-discussed to avoid hoteliers refusing to apply the negotiated rates and waiting until the last minute to sell their rooms for much more,” he warned.
Some on private rental platforms such as Airbnb, one of the main sponsors of the Olympics, will try to raise prices sharply.
Already a target for criticism because, just as new hotels occupy space that could be used to house Parisians, Airbnb is accused of fuelling soaring property prices and drying up the long-term rental market.
Airbnb commissioned a study, published in April, from consultants Deloitte.
It predicted a “realistic” price increase of 85 per cent during the Games. AFP
