In 2024, as the Olympics make a return, elite athletes worldwide intensify their training for the Paris event. Simultaneously, hotels are gearing up for the occasion by significantly increasing room prices to exorbitant levels.
According to a study by consumer organization UFC-Que Choisir, Paris hotels are tripling their prices, averaging more than 1,000 euros ($1,092) for the opening night of the 2024 Olympic Games. The survey, conducted in late December, focused on 80 three- and four-star hotels. The results revealed that on the night of July 26, coinciding with the Olympics’ opening ceremony along the Seine River, the average cost for a double room is 1,033 euros ($1,128), a substantial increase from the 317 euros recorded two weeks earlier on July 12.
The study further disclosed that 50% of these hotels were already fully booked for that night, with 30% requiring a minimum booking of at least two nights, and some establishments mandating up to five nights. The average required minimum stay stood at 3.4 days, with an associated cost of 867 euros per night, according to UFC.
UFC emphasized the remarkable surge in room rates, stating, “Olympic room rates! Paris hotels are not holding back; their room rates are on fire.” The report highlighted instances such as a three-star hotel raising its double room price to 2,083 euros, compared to 304 euros two weeks prior, and a four-star hotel demanding a minimum booking of four nights at 2,095 euros per night.
Paris’s tourism office anticipates around 16 million visitors in the wider Paris region during the Olympics and Paralympics, placing strain on the housing and hotel markets. In response, Airbnb has urged Parisians to rent out their homes during the games to help mitigate price increases.
Meanwhile, in the Seine-Saint-Denis area north of Paris, where the Olympic Village is being constructed, the eviction of thousands of migrants, asylum seekers, and Roma squatting in vacant buildings has exacerbated the city’s homelessness problem.
