Paris 'palace' hotels face growing challenges

Paris

LUXURY hotels in Paris have taken a beating this year, with the Charlie Hebdo attacks scaring off visitors and websites like Airbnb stealing away clients, but analysts say the lure of the "palaces" has not yet faded.

"The shock of Charlie (attacks) affected us enormously in the first quarter, our occupancy rate was easily down by 20 per cent and it took us time to get back up to speed," says Michel Jauslin, director of the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome.