Last Minute Olympic Hotels in Paris? The Costs Might Surprise You

The Olympics are a funny thing. With an estimated 11 million visitors coming to Paris for the Olympic Games, there will definitely be crowds.

But a city like Paris is used to tens of millions of tourists every year, not to mention tens of millions more visitors for business purposes (Paris is a hub of commerce in addition to culture). Plus many of the attendees are staying in special-built villages (athletes, press, etc.) and don’t occupy traditional hotel space.

The CEO of Delta Airlines recently said that the Paris Olympics would cost his company $100 million in lost revenue with tourists and business travelers avoiding the city for a month.

People were surprised that Korean swimmers were able to move out of the Olympic Village amid transportation woes that saw transit times of as much as 2 hours to La Defense Arena where pool swimming well be held.

But it turns out that lodging is still plentiful, and quite affordable, in Paris as the Olympics get underway.

A review of available Airbnb listings found roughly 150 within a short walk of La Defense in the northwest part of the city. These are nice places with high ratings.

There are hundreds more stays in this price range still available in Central Paris – and that only accounts for stays that are available for the next 9 nights without interruption. Many are even cheaper – less than $150 per night.

If hotels are more your thing, plenty of those are available too.

On Hotwire, you can still book three and four star hotels near La Defense for $160 per night, or less. Mystery rates in Central Paris, where you don’t find out the specific name of your hotel until after you book, are available for under $100 – almost 50% off normal prices for those hotels. A 3-star hotel near the Eiffel Tower is available for $159 per night.

If you’re still pondering a spontaneous last-minute trip, non-stop flights from New York City to Paris are still available as low as $900 round-trip.

Olympic economics are a funny thing. The perception and the reality don’t necessarily fully-align all the time. While tickets for hot events (like swimming) can be very expensive for the best seats, the cost of the rest of the trip might surprise you.