Paris Olympics 2024: Hotels getting cheaper with only half of rooms filled

With barely three months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begin, the slump in hotel rates predicted by The Independent has been confirmed.

The global sporting event begins in the French capital on 26 July and continues to 11 August.

Data from the hotel market analyst, Lighthouse, shows a continuous reduction in the nightly rate from an average of over €800 (£689) last September to below €500 (£431) currently.

In the last 30 days alone, rates for three-star properties during the Olympics have dropped by 9 per cent. Four-star hotels have fallen by 8 per cent in the same spell. But five-star luxury establishments are holding prices up slightly better, down by 6 per cent.

A spokesperson for Lighthouse said: “Current market occupancy rates continue to hover around 50 per cent, as they have done for some time.”

Last month The Independent revealed that top tourism officials in Paris expect hotel occupancy to be between 60 and 70 per cent during the Games.

In July 2023, the average occupancy was 91 per cent.

Christophe Decloux, director-general for tourism in the Paris Region, said: “We have 160,000 rooms in the Paris Region – which is more than London had in 2012. So we have what it takes to accommodate everybody.

“What we compare to is London in 2012 – where the the hotels in London were very expensive at the beginning and they had to bring down the prices.”

He said occupancy in the 2012 host city bounced back “as soon as the prices met the actual demand of the customer”.

One three-star property whose prices are being tracked by The Independent, the New Hotel St-Lazare, is currently pricing double rooms on the opening night of the Games for €213 (£184), about twice the usual rate – and the same as one month ago.

According to Lighthouse data, overall hotel rates in Paris during the Olympics are still 95 per cent higher than at the same time in 2024.

The most expensive date to stay during the Games is 4 August 2024, when a five-star hotel room is averaging €1,566 (£1,349).