More than 1000 euros per night for a studio near the Eiffel Tower: here is an idea of the prices displayed on Airbnb for the evening of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. No wonder when you know that failing to participate in the event, many Parisians saw the opportunity to rent their very expensive accommodation during their absence. To avoid the explosion of prices, the government is considering setting up specific signage on all seasonal rental platforms, when the prices displayed will exaggeratedly exceed the usual average practiced for similar properties, of the same size and with same dates.
“Discussions are in progress”, confirms this Sunday the cabinet of Olivia Grégoire, the Minister Delegate in charge of Trade and Tourism, who explains that she is working on the drafting of a charter soon to be submitted to all platforms, for an update in place next January. “The objective is indeed that the platforms that have signed the charter issue price alerts when they are high in relation to the quality of the service”, continues the minister’s entourage, who specifies that – despite the alert – visitors willing to pay full price will still be able to do so. Asked about this, Airbnb attests that “discussions are underway with the minister’s office on this initiative”, while emphasizing that it “will only make sense if it applies to all the players in the tourist accommodation, including hotels’.
In view of the prices charged during the London Games, the audit firm Deloitte anticipates “an average increase of 85% in prices during the period of the Olympic Games compared to the prices charged by hosts on Airbnb in 2022”. In a report, the firm mentions the arrival of “more than half a million visitors” to be hosted each evening in the region throughout the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Or “about double the overall number of travelers welcomed during the same period in 2022”. During this period, “about 130,000 accommodations will be offered on the platform in Île-de-France”. Enough to become essential to the proper organization of the Games.
In addition, the American company is pleased to offer the possibility of renting their property to individuals, who are more and more numerous to get started, while main residences and guest rooms “represent more than 75% of housing which were rented on Airbnb in Paris in 2022”. A proportion “larger than ever” according to the multinational, which welcomes that “recent data show that the number of main residences rented on Airbnb by Parisians has increased by 60% compared to 2021”.
While 15 million tourists expected for the Games, the Minister Delegate for Trade and Tourism Olivia Grégoire explains that she has “started many projects with professionals” in the hotel and catering industry in particular, detailed in Le Parisien. “Welcoming the millions of tourists who will come to France for the Olympics also requires an upscale catering and hotel offer,” she said on Sunday.
On the program: the free granting of the Quality Tourism label to hotels that offer good value for money to their customers, better transparency on the prices charged or even a financial boost reserved for establishments accessible to people with disabilities. disability. All under the watchful eye of agents from the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), some of whom will be specifically responsible, during the Olympic Games, for carrying out checks in hotels and restaurants, and check that the prices are not soaring.
