Luxury Travel

Paris Palaces Face Gloomy Future

The city of lights needs high-rolling tourists.

A doorman waits to welcome guests outiside La Reserve, on Aug. 12.Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

As the capital of the world’s No. 1 tourist destination, Paris has no shortage of hotels for all tastes and wallets, from the dumpy dive to the pillared palace, where a single night can set you back as much as 30,000 euros ($35,000).

But coronavirus and the ensuing lockdown have been hard on the City of Lights. The fanciest hotels previously pulled in at least 80% of their guests from outside Europe, a route now closed because of international travel restrictions. As a result, most of the ultra-luxury hotels went into months-long hibernation, from which they will only begin to emerge at the end of this month.