Average daily rates at Paris hotels have soared by over 70% to €380 during the Olympics period, compared to €223 during the same period last year.
That is according to data from SiteMinder, the leading software platform unlocking the full revenue potential of hotels.
This remarkable growth in rates and demand is fuelled by both international and domestic travellers, with overseas guests expected to account for 59% of arrivals at hotels across France this July, up from 54% in 2023. SiteMinder’s data highlights Germany, the UK, and the US as the top international source markets for French hotels in July.
Additionally, booking windows at Paris hotels have significantly lengthened to 118 days, up from 71 days during the same period last year. This is complemented by a nearly 20% increase in the average length of stay, which has risen to 2.57 days.
James Bishop, SiteMinder’s Vice President of Ecosystem and Strategic Partnerships, noted that Parisian hotels’ proactive approach to capitalise on forward bookings serves as a valuable example for UK hoteliers, emphasising the growing importance of major events as a revenue source.
“Thanks to longer lead times and ever-improving distribution and revenue optimisation tools, hoteliers can now better leverage heightened periods of demand to drive revenue growth. In a landscape marked by increased competition and savvy traveller behaviour, major events provide rare certainty to the industry. It’s vital that UK hotels act to keep pace with their guests, as Parisian hotels have done leading up to the Olympics,” Bishop remarked.
“The significant growth in rates around the Paris Olympics contrasts with the trends observed during the London Marathon weekend in April this year, where rates dropped by 6.5% year-on-year despite a 13% increase in lead times and a 2% rise in bookings. This suggests that Parisian hotels have effectively utilised dynamic revenue management. UK hoteliers must similarly ensure they are well-prepared to capture opportunities to maximise revenue around events, which, although not as prominent as the Olympics, can still drive substantial demand spikes,” Bishop concluded.
All data pertains to the Olympics period (26 July to 11 August) and is compared to the same dates last year, derived from SiteMinder’s platform, which processes over 120 million reservations annually, generating more than US$50 billion in revenue for its 41,000+ hotel customers.