Olympic Games 2024: the organizing committee cancels thousands of hotel reservations, establishments angry

(New) bad publicity for the 2024 Olympic Games. The organizing committee for the Olympic Games recently canceled thousands of overnight hotel reservations in Châteauroux, the prefecture of Indre, which will host the Olympic Games next summer. sportive shoot. Enough to provoke the anger of the half-dozen establishments concerned.

It was through an email from Paris 2024 that their managers learned the news, France Bleu Berry revealed this week. “The Olympic committee simply told me that the needs were less than expected,” one of them, Régis Tellier, of the Élysée hotel, told RMC. At France 3 Centre-Val de Loire, the same hotelier claims that, of the 976 nights reserved by the committee, only 81 remain, or less than 10%. Depending on the hotels, between 50 and 80% of nights were canceled, according to the regional daily La Nouvelle République. In total, 492 rooms were “released”, said Paris 2024.

“It’s a huge disappointment. We turned away people for the summer. We have no explanation. I feel the anger rising,” lashed out Véronique Gaulon, president of the departmental branch of Umih, the main employers’ union in the hotel and catering industry. Several establishments even say they have carried out thousands of euros of work to meet the requirements of the organizing committee. Hence their discontent and their feeling of incomprehension. Especially since they will not be compensated, because the agreement signed with the organizing committee provided for adjustments free of charge until mid-December.

Tony Estanguet, the boss of Paris 2024, explained the committee's approach during a press conference organized on Wednesday. “Today, with more precise knowledge of this information, we have effectively vacated the rooms, which we, the organizing committee, no longer need. This will also allow new opportunities for spectators, families of athletes, even service providers who work on the organization and who are looking for housing solutions,” said the former three-time Olympic canoe slalom champion, quoted by L 'Team .

In the email received by hoteliers on December 14, the Olympic organizing committee also estimates that the rooms put back on the market “can be reserved by the start of the competitions”, which will start in seven months, on the 27 July. A point on which most managers agree. Ditto for local elected officials, who say they are “not very worried”. It is rather the method, considered clumsy, which irritates the hoteliers, joined by the mayor of Châteauroux, Gil Avérous. “It’s the way it was done that’s the problem. Why didn't they call the hoteliers directly one by one?, criticizes the councilor, interviewed by La Nouvelle République. And then, what surprises is the extent of the withdrawal. I understand the hoteliers who would have preferred a phone call rather than an email.”