What are people's recent experiences of Paris hotels?
Someone I know travelled from Abu Dhabi on business, with a reservation in or off the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and was staggered to find himself charged €560 a night even before he contemplated so much as coffee and croissant for breakfast.
Since he said it was a decent hotel but, by implication, nothing too extravagant, I assume it was not the Bristol, which is rather grand. So even allowing for what is undoubtedly a chic and expensive area, he paid through the nose.
My own recent experiences have been nearer the other end of the market, basic hotels near the Gare du Nord or Invalides which cost €150 or so but were no more than what the French, when they do not wish to praise something too highly, call correct. To a greater or lesser extent, they served their purpose on quick working visits.
My acquaintance's anecdote and the evidence of my own visits, inspired this item for The National, Abu Dhabi but I'd be interested to hear how others have fared when visiting Paris.
But not everyone wants to settle for a garret in the insalubrious surroundings of Europe's busiest railway terminus, the Gare du Nord.
The business visitor to Paris may well have other needs, from convenience of location to space and efficient facilities, and it is at this end of the accommodation market that the City of Light becomes a gloomier proposition.
A survey for Paris's tourism office shows that for higher-class accommodation, Paris is very nearly in a league of its own. The average room price in this study was €379 (Dh1,840) for Paris, ahead of London and New York and behind only Geneva, at approximately Dh2,000.
Nor do "average" prices tell the full story, as one recent business traveller from the UAE discovered. He stayed in a decent but not extravagantly luxurious hotel in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, and paid more than Dh2,700 a night without breakfast.
The visitor was amazed. But the rate raised no eyebrows among those with everyday knowledge of Parisian hotel prices.
"It is not a surprise," says Alain Coffre, editor of BusinessTravel.fr, the French version of the magazine Business Traveller, who points out that pricing and availability are greatly affected by trade fairs and exhibitions taking place at certain times.
So is there serious under-provision, at least in central areas? "Absolutely," Mr Coffre says, "and this was confirmed to me by someone from the tourism board of Paris.
"There is a shortage of business hotels in the centre of Paris because it is difficult to build new hotels there."
The Knight Frank property agency puts the average Paris hotel price at Dh845, but this reflects the wide disparity between the two ends of the market. Occupancy rates are more than 75 per cent in the four to five-star bracket.
In league tables from the World Tourism Organisation, France is the world's most popular destination (74.2 million arrivals last year), with the US and Spain lagging far behind on 54.9 million and 52.2 million, respectively), while Paris (14.8 million) leads London (14.1 million) and Singapore (9.7 million) as the most popular city.
Some people adore the Paris spring, others love the autumn or prefer the height of summer, when the Parisians themselves stage their annual holiday exodus, and there are fairs, exhibitions and events all year.
"There is not really a low season," says Giuseppina Tricoli, the Paris account manager for the online hotel reservations company EasyToBook.com, which deals in every price bracket.
This year, Ms Tricoli noted that virtually all city centre hotels for September had been fully booked by July. One reason, she says, is that the city is the natural business centre for all French-language congresses. Add the architectural, cultural and culinary attractions, and the pressure on space - and therefore on prices - can more readily be understood.
Business Traveller's Mr Coffre offers respite for those willing to stay outside the smart central arrondissements, with "numerous new projects in the suburbs … generally a good place to stay if you want lower prices".
While endorsing Ms Tricoli's observations on September as a particularly busy month, to which he adds April-June and October-November, Mr Coffre believes the market is kinder in July and August and from December to February, when business travel to Paris dips.
He suggests that greater value for money can often be found by venturing out to northern and eastern arrondissements, though he does not recommend poorer parts of the city (the 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements).
Beyond that, his advice would probably apply anywhere: book ahead if visiting in high seasons, or be alert for exceptional bargains.
The man from Abu Dhabi who paid Dh2,700 a night in the Rue Faubourg du Saint-Honoré may not be consoled to hear from Mr Coffre that only a few months ago, and just around the corner, the majestic Hotel de Crillon, dripping with history and fabulously placed on the Place de la Concorde, had rooms for only a third as much.
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