Compact-term rentals can act as a quick-release valve for a city expecting an influx of visitors, increasing short-term capacity almost immediately. In fact, despite the usual hype around the Olympics, there are still plenty of places to stay in Paris this summer.
An Airbnb search for stays for two during the first weekend of the competition yielded more than 1,000 results, with many charging less than $200 a night. A search for hotel rooms on Expedia turned up only about 20 hotels offering similarly low rates. Hotel prices in Paris during the Olympic Games period have actually fallen since December, but remain higher than at the same time last summer, with average cost of a hotel room on the opening weekend of the games, costing around €440 from May.
Compact-term rental booking prices during the Olympics rose 8 percent compared to two weeks before the games across all Olympic event locations, but the number of available rooms increased 38 percent, data shows. AirDNAthird-party platform that tracks short-term rentals.
The average short-term rental price in Paris for the Olympics is $481 per night, compared to $350 on average for those booking early. Outside Paris, average rates are $289, up from the previous $198. According to Stephenson, the “vast majority” of these Airbnb listings come from families sharing their primary homes. But other Parisians do pleading travelers stay away, warning that the games will bring chaos, and some plan to do so escape city.
According to the company, people from more than 160 countries and regions have booked stays on Airbnb in connection with the Olympics. The largest influx of tourists comes from the United States – 20 percent of bookings are American travelers, with many other guests coming from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands.
Against this backdrop, and thanks to Airbnb’s marketing push, Jamie Lane, chief economist and senior vice president of research for AirDNA, says it makes sense for more people to sign up for Airbnb as hosts. “Everyone is starting to get Olympic fever,” he says, especially as “Airbnb is running more and more ads and reaching out to the Paris market.”
Despite the deluge of visitors, the availability of job vacancies suggests that, like many athletes competing in Paris, some Airbnb hosts will end the Games in disappointment as their listings remain unbooked. However, Lane says that in the past, huge events have provided a lasting boost to Airbnb’s presence in a given location. “There are more offers left in the city than there are coming in,” Lane says. For “people who might decide to do it for the first time, it ends up being a good experience. There was very little work. They think, “I should do it again.”