Paris Olympic Games: Expensive Accommodations Slashed In Price

29.04.2024 - 20:33 / forbes.com / Paris Olympics / Paris Olympic Games

With 88 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, the scaffolding is going up for seating at the events across the capital and the Olympic Rings are being hoisted. For anyone planning a last-minute trip, who doesn't yet have accommodation, you may just be in luck. Supply has outstripped demand and homeowners, particularly of fancy apartments, are slashing prices by anywhere from 30% to 60%.

Back in February, Le Monde's English version reported that while prices were higher than usual, they hadn't reached the dizzy heights that the early surge suggested, particularly as homeowners saturated Airbnb with possible rentals. As an example, the French Tourism Office reported that last September, the average price for one night in Greater Paris was €759 ($814) while in February, that price had dropped to €522 (around €560) on a like-for-like basis.

Euronews reports that prices are still falling compared to where they were last summer, as reported by insurance firm Réassurez-moi—last July, one night during the Olympic Games stood at €1,023 ($1100) while in April, the same booking now costs €436 ($468) for one night. It is believed that as many as 3,000 to 3,500 new listings have been coming online each month.

Another reason for the decrease is that Sports Federations pre-booked a certain number of rentals, as per agreements with Olympic Organisers, and they started sending some of these back to the market in late January as planning became clearer. This means hotels had new rooms to sell—and Sports Organisations have continued to do this in February and March too.

Bloomberg reports that many agents that are helping owners to rent out fancy apartments during the Olympic Games are tempering their clients' expectations, reporting that the demand isn't where they hoped it would be. Other agents are being more picky, only taking on client apartments that are in excellent condition in prime Olympic real estate locations. For the very high-end clients with very expensive apartments, if the prices come down too much, it won't be worth them renting them out.

As an example, fancy 100-square-meter (1,100-square-foot) places are currently going for about €10,000 a week ($10,721), while a few months ago, they were being listed (and rented) for two or three times that amount. The short-term rental data provider AirDNA says that two-thirds of the total number of available four or five-bedroom apartments in Paris are still available.

Olivier Petit of In Extenso, a consulting firm that specializes in the hotel market told Le Monde that the same thing happened during the London Olympics—prices fell in the months up to the event, but they were still double the normal price for a night's rental. This