HOTEL bookings in Paris are down this holiday season in the wake of last month’s series of terrorist attacks in the French capital.
Wholesale hotel room buyer JacTravel, which fills 250,000 bed nights a year in Paris, revealed that properties are offering promotions, including room upgrades, reducing the minimum length of stay, offering 25 to 30 per cent discounts for one or two-night stays and special offer vouchers for New Year’s Eve dinners in order to lure more customers.
It added that the impact from this is worse than the effects following January’s Charlie Hebdo incident.
Most affected are hotels with international clientele from China, the US and Japan with longhaul visitors choosing to stay away from Paris. Those catering to the domestic market are faring better.
Hotels are still reluctant to slash their rates however. Cecile Danielo, regional head of contracting at JacTravel, said: “Families are staying away and those who are visiting are staying for fewer nights. The picture is highly volatile with prices changing from day to day.”
“The city is less crowded than you would expect for this time of year, but there is still life in Paris.”
JacTravel believes hotels will wait until after the holiday period before deciding on future pricing strategies in January.
