French city-dwellers swap stifling apartments for cool hotel rooms
By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS, June 27 (Reuters) – As France sweltered this week under one of the worst heatwaves ever recorded, city residents scrambled for any escape they could find; many checked into hotels to benefit from air conditioning and pool access.
Temperatures in Paris broke a June record at 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.62 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, a day after France recorded its warmest day since records began nearly 80 years ago.
But very few private apartments in the country have air conditioning, especially those in the densely populated capital. Approximately three-quarters of Paris roofs use zinc sheets, a material that absorbs and conducts heat.
This situation triggered an influx in hotels both in cities and outside the city.
Local resident Veronique Savoye, who said she “couldn’t think straight” because of the heat in her own home and checked into a local hotel for a four-night stay until Friday, said air-conditioned hotels in the historic city of Tours in western France were almost fully booked earlier this week.
“It’s about being more comfortable and being able to sleep first and foremost,” he said.
Matthieu Evrard, CEO of the hotel group Les Hotels (tres) Particuliers, said he was struggling with demands.
“This is quite an unusual occurrence. Every day five to ten people contact me personally through various contacts to get a room in our hotels,” he said.
“With the heatwave, everything filled up in just two weeks.”
His group operates Les Maisons de Campagne, a rural hotel brand with two properties in the Yvelines region, about 45 minutes from Paris: Chateau de Villiers-le-Mahieu, set in a 12-hectare park, and Maison du Val in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Although neither has air conditioning, both are now fully occupied, using ceiling fans and the natural coolness of the thick stone castle walls instead.
The surrounding countryside and pools in both areas have attracted interest from Parisians, many of whom have children and want to escape their homes as schools close due to the heat.
While Savoye acknowledged that hotel accommodation is not suitable for everyone, he said that he decided to allocate some of his holiday budget to his room.
“It was what you could call a staycation. It was worth it for me.”
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Dominique Patton; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Jan Harvey)
