Paris sees unusual rise in ultra-luxury bookings

Since the end of May, several Paris luxury hotels and concierge services have observed an unusual rise in bookings for suites, private rooms and chauffeured transport. The trend does not appear to be connected to any official conference or identified diplomatic summit. Clients are arriving mainly from Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy and the United Kingdom. Some travel with private security teams and request late dining hours or rooms accessible after the establishments usually close. Several receptions have also been held in private mansions and galleries. Luxury tourism professionals see this as a sign of an exceptionally strong season. Others suggest that business meetings are being conducted away from traditional channels. Government departments say they have no particular information to share. Paris has always attracted discreet negotiations and may simply be seeing a remarkable concentration of visitors in early June who prefer not to appear on official programmes.