The figure is enough to make you dizzy: according to one Deloitte study, Airbnb could break a record for the Paris Olympics. The seasonal rental platform is expected to generate approximately one billion euros in economic benefits, with 130,000 hosts offering accommodation to some 560,000 tourists, throughout the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This represents approximately double the overall number of travelers hosted in the Paris region during the same period in 2022, specifies Airbnb, which commissioned the study. The opportunity to assert a little more its place as a market juggernaut in Europe, but also to heighten the tensions it generates in the French capital.
“In Paris, our strategy is twofold: to empower owners and empower the platform, asserts Ian Brossat, housing assistant at the town hall in the capital. On each rental, Airbnb earns a commission. If the rental is illegal, she bears some responsibility. For a long time, Airbnb washed its hands of it, arguing that only the owner was responsible, but that’s changing. “He also admits that the sentence to pay a fine of 8 million euros to the City in 2021 has, against all expectations, relaxed relations between the two parties. For the Olympics?
“Neither anti-Airbnb, nor anti-tourism”
“Housing has now become a speculative object,” recalled Iñaki Echaniz, MP for Pyrénées-Atlantiques (PS), when he strolled a few days ago in the tourist center of Paris, with Dorine Bregman, assistant to the town hall of Paris-centre, in charge of shops. He is notably at the initiative of the bill on the supervision of furnished tourist accommodation, which must pass in the hemicycle in mid-June. But Emmanuel Grégoire, Anne Hidalgo’s first deputy, who was also at their side, made it clear: Airbnb is not the target. “We do not want to prohibit rental to tourists in these areas but the professionalization of some, who would offer exclusively dedicated accommodation”, adhering to the passage to the will of the platform “to return to the sources”, as has affirmed Brian Cheskythe CEO of Airbnb, in The echoes.
“Neither anti-Airbnb, nor anti-tourism”, as Iñaki Echaniz hammered home about the proposed law, the City of Paris was however one of the first to strictly regulate the rental of furnished tourist accommodation for several years. And to fight head-on and indirectly against the American tourist accommodation rental giant, despite the organization of the Olympic Games on its territory in 2024?
During the few weeks of competition, it will be necessary to accommodate in the territory a surplus of some 15 million visitors, even if Emmanuel Grégoire affirms that “there will not be an over-demand compared to a normal tourist season at the end of July”. Ian Brossat adds: “The Olympic Games only last three weeks and we need regulation all year round. We are for occasional rental but against the transformation of accommodation into a cash machine to accommodate tourists, Olympic Games or not. »
A non-negligible “Olympic Day effect” on tourist furnished rentals
On this subject, Airbnb recalls that “the share of guests renting their main residence in Paris increased by 60% in 2022 compared to the previous year, and three quarters of accommodation rented last year in the French capital on Airbnb were main residences or guest rooms”. “If at the end of July 2024, Parisians go on vacation and wish to rent their accommodation within the framework of the regulations, that does not bother me at all, continued Emmanuel Grégoire. This is the case every summer and there will be no change at this level, because we do not have the legal means and, in this case, we do not see the point in these cases. -there. Paris always costs more when you want to spend a December 31st than an October 1st. It is the law of supply and demand. »
At Guest Ready, property manager for short and medium-term rentals, the vast majority of whose 900 properties in its catalog are available on Airbnb, we are already delighted with the “Olympic Games effect”: “Today, on of the requests we receive from owners, more than two-thirds are already talking to us about the Olympics. Such an event is a godsend to highlight our activity, to show how much it is a possibility to supplement your income when you go on vacation,” says Raphaël Oren, CEO.
Adapt the offer to the regulations
Airbnb therefore seems to have restored its image, barely scratched by its conflict with the law and its chaotic relationship with the city of Paris. According to a survey carried out by Ifop, nearly 20% of Ile-de-France residents who are not yet renting their accommodation on Airbnb plan to open their doors to guests from all over the world during the Games period. “At Guest Ready, we expect strong growth, with 1,500 properties under management by the summer of 2024,” shares Raphaël Oren.
While Paris has just announced that certain areas, among the most touristic in the capital, will be prohibited from the creation of new furnished tourist accommodation because the offer is already overabundant, these restrictions do not seem to worry market professionals. “We are lucky, in our capital, to have strict regulations, one of the most supervised in Europe, which provides a clear and logical framework, further believes the managing director of Guest Ready. We just have to adapt our offer. “Same story on the side of the Airbnb platform herself, which “is committed, as a global partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to making this unique event a success for all, whether it is to meet the accommodation needs of the athletes and the organisation, to create unique encounters during the Games or to disseminate long-term benefits in France”.
Airbnb partner of the IOC and not of the Cojop
The organizing committee (Cojop) nevertheless recalls that Airbnb is indeed a sponsor of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but that “Paris 2024 is not a party to the discussions on the conclusion of the contract”. To accommodate the athletes, the media, the Olympic and Paralympic committees and all the officials, it has relied on the actors of the French hotel industry, with whom it has already reserved 47,000 rooms, including 42,000 in Ile-de- France. “Hoteliers don’t have to be afraid of Airbnb-type rentals over the Olympic period, because demand will be so great that there will be plenty for all types of accommodation,” assures Raphaël Oren. It is even the solution to remedy reduced accommodation capacities during a busy period.
“Airbnb will offer a diversified and complementary offer to that of the traditional hotel industry, to ensure that the best possible experience is guaranteed during the Games”, supports the Cojop. But what about afterwards? Could Paris follow Amsterdam’s lead and one day ban Airbnb on its territory? “French law, today, does not allow it, recalls Ian Brossat. This is part of the lines of thought, even if the problem relates only to the expansion of furnished rentals, which ultimately deprives permanent residents of housing. Airbnb in Paris is therefore far from over.