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Any recommendations for hotels in Paris for next summer’s Olympics? Ideally want to use points and IHG/Hilton/Marriot/Hyatt my options but open to suggestions. There will be 2-4 of us
how long are you staying?
Is there a part of the city you want to be in or a metro line you need to be near?
Excluding Hyatt there are plenty of chain hotels, and if you have the points Rob loves the IC Le Grand and Kimpton.
I can’t help with specific recommendations but you’ll do very well to use points. For the Olympics, a huge chunk of hotel inventory is taken out of action before reservations open to the public. Tens of thousands of rooms. This is for dignitaries, tourists on packages etc. Generally the chain hotels are popular for this as tourists like to stay in a familiar hotel etc.
I suspect that it won’t end up being too difficult in the end as Paris has a lot of hotel rooms and a lot of Airbnbs also. The IOC always seems to demand too many rooms and then they get released back into the mix closer to the games. But you need to be brave holding off until a couple of months before the games and most hotels won’t let you book a placeholder refundable rate as they are wise to that.
But what you can do is familiarise yourself with when the various chains open up for bookings and keep an eye out on the date they open up to see if (i) they are taking Joe Public and (ii) they are taking points bookings at normal rates.
The other point is that Paris is kinda big so where you want to be depends on what you are seeing as the venues are spread all over. There isn’t the same concentration as there was for London. So before booking, spend a bit of time checking that you aren’t going to be spending an eternity on the metro just getting to a transport hub.
I’m going with my family so have already booked accommodation at great expense. Getting a sleeping arrangement I’m happy with (two connecting rooms) is tricky at the best of times so I just decided to pay up when rooms became available. Accor take bookings (from memory) 380 days in advance so they are currently happy to (over)charge you for a room. As the first in the mix I went with them and will be staying at the Pullman at La Defense which works out not too badly for the cycling which is way out of Paris to the East and the Athletics which is to the North. We were in the centre of Paris in May and I’m off for the rugby in October so I’ll survive not getting my central Paris fix. And if I must, it’s only 15 minutes on the train! As a bonus they had the Presidential Suite available for a similar price to two standard rooms. So I dealt.
If I could have got a suitable sleeping arrangement at one of the hotels at the airport then I might have just gone for them as their rates weren’t quite so bad. CDG has excellent links and is particularly good for the Athletics.
That was my thinking but may be of no use to you!
Doops – cycling is to the west. I’d hate you to book on the wrong side of town because of me!
Great advice Froggee. I abandoned hope of an IHG redemption on this occasion and have made a very cheap, refundable booking via Booking.com. its an Airbnb style thing about 20 mons on the metro from St Denis.
Thanks both. I likely need to do 2 trips. I live in London so not so bad with Eurostar. May even book BA 365 days in advance.
One trip is for tickets to Athletics early August and second trip a week later for hockey, Athletics and water polo. You make a good point about checking where each of these is located….
I’ve had a quick look and can see IHG is selling hotels for points until mid-July 2024 currently. I’ve stayed at Le Grand a few times and do like it. The optimist in me hopes they continue to allow points bookings until early-mid August but to your point it may well be blocked out. Hilton seems to have patchy availability. They are my usual go to chains but will keep options open for now. Reluctant to part with much cash given player 2 has no interest in this and won’t come.
The games start on 26th July, so the proof of the pudding will in a week or two when we’d expect the IHG inventory to be released. Sadly, it would be too late to stock up using the 90% offer, unless you’d keep an use for another time.
I am tended to agree with Frogee’s outlook that they won’t release during The Games.
Slightly related, but if you have a stash of Accor points lying around, then probably check out their Limitless Experience page over the coming year, given that Accor is an official partner of the Paris Olympics. I assume they’re going to release some packages involving the Olympics there a few months before it starts
On one of their corporate pages, it says “The Group’s lifestyle loyalty program, ALL-Accor Live Limitless, is the first loyalty program to become an Olympic & Paralympic Games official partner, meaning that ALL members will be able to enjoy truly rare moments ౼ including opportunities to meet with Olympic athletes as they prepare for competition, spending the day with our ALL Olympic ambassadors or gaining access to exclusive packages, tickets and experiences.”
All the Hiltons already say Sold Out on 27 July
Factor in that a good number of rooms will have already been block booked by the organisers for what is called the “Olympic family” such as IOC members and senior officials, high ups from the sports federations and their senior officials and the media etc as well as for the organising body themselves so your choice of the higher class hotels may be limited by that.
I’d also keep very careful record of cancellation terms for points refundable room rates which may have dates significantly out of sync with their normal ones.
Update. Managed to book Hampton clichy for 50k points per night vs 436 euro nightly rate. Happy with that. Not far to gare du nord or state de France
Not the Olympics but I’m going to Euros. Kind of a similar situation hotels-wise. My strategy was to book whatever I could find under €300 from the chains. Very very few options there are.
Hi @Can2 I’m an independent travel agent and booked several rooms for the Euros well in advance – mainly good independent 4*’s in the centre of the city on the night of a game.
Unfortunately I then came up with ‘nil points’ on tickets so I have them on option – they will all, with the exception of the final be under €300 if you (or anyone else) wants any of them!First game I have a room for is England v Slovenia and then I have a room for most of the knock out games (but not in every city)
Hi – can anyway suggest a reasonable hotel in le Marais district for late June – 2 nights. Was looking to pay £200 per night max but struggling. Have Hilton and Marriot status but doesn’t have to be a chain. Thanks
Have a look at Citadines Bastille Marais, I think it will hit your price point. We haven’t stayed there but have booked it for the Olympics following much research.
Hotels in the 11e Arrondissement just east of the boundary with the 3e, should be cheaper, but still walkable.
thanks Citadines is not available on my dates – will look at the area suggested @Richie thanks
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