While perusing headlines this week, I came across this eye-catching story in Euro News headlined "Paris hotels struggle with low demand as Olympics approach."
Now, this strikes me as mostly clickbait for a few reasons. First of all, hotel demand across Europe this summer is doing just fine. For the second summer in a row, relaxed restrictions and favorable currency exchanges have made Europe broadly the most popular landing spot for global travelers — particularly those from the U.S. So no tears should be shed for those supposedly struggling Parisian hoteliers.
Second of all, experts have repeatedly noted that the relative boost in hotel performance for a large, mature market like Paris is always going to be muted — especially compared to markets that have to build up significantly to host the events. Even Accor — one of the top global hotel companies who just so happens to be based in Paris — has indicated the performance impact from the games will be relatively minor in the grand scheme.
HNN's Terence Baker, covering Accor's most recent earnings call, noted how Group Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin highlighted the gulf between reality and some people's expectations for hotel performance during the Olympics — while noting it is an overall positive for tourism in France.
“We are at about 71% occupancy for the hotels concerned. You probably heard some silly things were done by some hoteliers a year ago, asking for outrageous prices, thinking their hotel was going to be absolutely fully booked. We will probably be at 85% during the games,” Bazin said.
Now, that's not to say those of us stateside haven't seen some recent sports-related disappointments on the global stage. I'm looking at you, U.S. men's national soccer team. So much for any homefield advantage in the Copa America.
On a more personal level, sporting disappointments seem to be stacking up this summer. We kicked it off earlier this year when my beloved Buffalo Bills had a publicly messy breakup with star receiver Stefon Diggs.
In terms of my other rooting interests: The Chicago White Sox have been such a disappointment with such a litany of unforced errors that I finally crossed the line I never thought I would and officially (to myself) swore off that team. Breaking up with Jason Benetti was the final straw for me, but I do miss watching games so much that I've actually considered tuning in to Detroit Tigers games just for the broadcast.
More recently, the Buffalo Sabres have failed to live up to promises of big splash moves this offseason — other than bringing back head coach Lindy Ruff, who once took the team to a Stanley Cup final. He won't have the greatest goalie to ever play the game to carry his team like he did 25 years ago, though.
The loan shining example of success I've had in terms of sports is my relatively newly adopted fandom of the Sydney Swans in Australia's AFL. Late last season, a handful of Cleveland-based HNN and STR staffers developed a fascination in Australian-rules football and adopted AFL teams. My pick was the Swans, based on my affinity for their guernseys. They then just barely made it into the playoffs and were dispatched in the first round.
This season, though, they've been the dominant force in the AFL, winning 10 straight games before a dramatic, last-second loss last weekend. My last aside to this now lengthy aside is I fully blame HNN graphic designer Rachel Daub for that loss after she edited out a portion of STR's Jesper Palmqvist's latest appearance on the HNN podcast. Jesper, like me, is a Swans fan and decided to mention that to end the episode, but Rachel cut that short segment. I told her immediately that it was on her if the Swans lost because it felt like a clear jinx to me.
Now back to the point...
Looking at that tidal wave of sports-related disappointments, I have no expectations that the Paris Olympics will join them.
Let me know what you think on X, LinkedIn or via email.
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