Perhaps It's Time for a Last Minute Trip to Paris

Am I the only person who is no longer clicking on all these links to read all these articles?

That said. I am on the mailing list for several hotels. They are not giving deals, but they do still have openings. If you were expecting a bargain, they haven’t gotten that desperate yet.

This was reported in the British media a few weeks ago. You can apparently go to Paris very cheaply right now.

The head of Delta was complaining that fewer people than expected are flying to Paris.

And as for not clicking links, back in the day I used to copy and paste from relevant articles and I was politely smacked down by the webmaster - copyright issues. So there's nothing wrong with someone posting an actual link to an actual article about the subject at hand; it's pretty easy to analyze the site info in the link title to see who it is.

I realize there is nothing wrong with most of these links but I’m just over it. it seems like we’re getting way too many of them lately, but that’s just my opinion and I don’t want to get harassed by another place to register.

It definitely looks like there are fewer tourists than usual. Restaurants have been August-quiet for a week or two.
This being said, it is not a great time to visit Paris right now, especially for the first time: it feels like 1/4 of the city is covered in fencing and temporary structures. The Seine banks will be off-limits in 48 hours and until the end of the month, roughly.

What Balso said.

We just got back from a trip. We stayed in southeast France for the very reason balso stated. We will go back to Paris next year along with Normandy and the Loire Valley. At my age I probably only have 1 chance at visiting Paris. I didn’t want it to be covered up and restricted with Olympic preparations.

I just spoke to a friend who is visiting Paris with her husband and children in Pari; they arrived last week and will next on July 27th. This is their third trip to Paris and they agree that restaurant reservations are easier to get than during their prior visits. She thinks it will be tougher next week but so far they have had no issues getting around. Maybe, the changes being made for the Olympics are more aggravating for residents than they are for visitors. In any event, for some, Paris is always a good idea.

Long story short, I once went to Paris without a reservation (it was August) and showed up to a hotel I had a reservation at for a future business trip and got a great deal on the day. In Florence I once switched hotels mid-trip (high season) and got a great deal at a luxury hotel. I would probably not do it on the regular (though I know people who literally pick out their hotels while they are on the plane to the destination), it's kind of exciting and you might end up with a bigger bargain than you expected.

As someone who has friends who work for airlines they routinely book hotels from the plane. Now they can use the airlines portal to get some deals but they often are doing just what you and I would do, access reviews etc. They generally do find decent deals because if they could get the free/reduced seats it's probably not the biggest most popular destination when they fly.

I do have trip in Oct/Nov to Paris and have already rebooked hotels a couple of times as prices have changed. I always keep watching.