Hotel room rates in Paris hit an all-time high, fueled by the Summer Olympics, which took place in the City of Lights from July 26 to August 11. The city recorded its highest ADR on opening night (Friday, July 26) at €876.26, data from CoStar shows. RevPAR also hit a record high of €765.85 on the first day of the mega sporting event, a rapid increase of 179.3%.
Room rates continued to rise above €800 for the following four nights. ADR remained above the €700 mark for the remainder of the event period. According to STR, room rates increased 141% year-on-year, while RevPAR increased 200% during the event period.
The previous nightly ADR peak recorded in Paris was in June 2023 (€622), CoStar data shows.
While ADR and RevPAR growth exceeded that seen during the 2012 London Olympics, occupancy in Paris increased by 24.1%, which represents lower growth than in London.
“However, this was to be expected due to the displaced ‘normal’ demand – such as international arrivals, domestic travel and group business,” said Samantha Mardkhah, STR Regional Manager for Southern and Western Europe.
The Olympic Games also had a major impact on hotel performance in the Île-de-France region, where some of the competitions took place. Similar to Paris, the region recorded its highest daily occupancy rate (79.7%) on the night of the 28 gold medal competitions (August 3), an increase of 43.1% year-on-year.
The highest ADR in the Île-de-France region was recorded on opening night (+133% to €281.90), while the highest RevPAR was recorded on Thursday 1 August (197.5% to €219.33).
“In hindsight, the feared panic that Paris would be overcrowded during the Olympics quickly dissipated, perhaps in favor of other French markets such as Marseille, where occupancy reached as high as 83%,” said Mardkhah. “In Lille, occupancy increased by 82% and averaged 70% during the Olympics, leading to a 147% increase in RevPAR.”
The Paralympics, which will take place from August 28 to September 8, are also expected to increase occupancy in Paris: hotel bookings currently average 49.7 percent.
In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, the Paris hotel industry was bracing for a disappointing summer as tourists turned their backs on the French capital for fear of overcrowding, high prices and tight security measures. Hotel rates were raised for the entire duration of the event and even further increased as a result of the tourist tax increase, Oxford Economics mentioned in a report. Airlines had also warned that the event could lead to significant losses. Air France-KLM had stated that the event could lead to a revenue loss of up to 180 million euros. Delta, the US airline with the most flights to Paris, estimated a revenue loss of $100 million this summer as travelers choose not to visit Paris until after the Olympics conclude.
However, the event proved to be a success. Some 11.2 million visitors (mostly tourists, day-trippers and residents of the Île-de-France region) visited the Greater Paris metropolis between July 23 and August 11, according to a French news report. The total number of visitors was up 4% compared to the previous year. While the majority of visitors (85%) to the Olympic Games were French, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom recorded the highest number of foreign visitors.
