French city-dwellers swap stifling apartments for cool hotel rooms

PARIS, June 27 - As France sweltered under one of the worst heatwaves ever recorded this week, city dwellers scrambled for any escape they could find, with many checking into hotels to benefit from air conditioning and access to pools.

Temperatures in Paris hit a June record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.62 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, a day after France recorded its hottest day since records began nearly 80 years ago.

But few private apartments in the country have air conditioning, particularly those in the densely populated capital. About three-quarters of Paris rooftops use sheets of zinc, a material that absorbs and conducts heat.

That has triggered a rush on hotels, both in cities and beyond.

Air-conditioned hotels in the historic city of Tours in western France were almost fully booked earlier this week, said resident Veronique Savoye, who said she "could not think straight" due to the heat in her own home and checked into a local hotel for a four-night stay through Friday.

"It's about being more comfortable, and — above all — being able to sleep," she said.

Matthieu Evrard, CEO of hotel group Les Hotels (tres) Particuliers, said he had been inundated with requests.

"It is a quite extraordinary phenomenon. Every day, I have between five and ten people contacting me personally through various connections to get rooms in our hotels," he said.

"With the heatwave, everything has filled up in just two weeks."

His group operates Les Maisons de Campagne, a countryside hotel brand with two properties in the Yvelines department, roughly 45 minutes from Paris — the Chateau de Villiers-le-Mahieu, set in a 12-hectare park, and the Maison du Val in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Both are now fully booked, even though neither has air conditioning, relying instead on ceiling fans and the natural cool of thick stone castle walls.

The surrounding countryside and pools at both sites added to the appeal for Parisians eager to escape their apartments, many with children whose schools had closed because of the heat, he said.

While Savoye acknowledged a hotel stay wasn't available to everyone, she said she had decided to splash part of her holiday budget on her room.

"It was what you'd call a staycation. For me, it was worth it." REUTERS