Conference & Meetings World Issue 139 | Page 45

Paris report
Local attractions To gain a flavour of the local area and to explore what event delegates might expect in their down time, I took a guided tour of Saint Ouen Flea Market, the largest of its kind in the world, courtesy of Agence d ' attractivité de Plaine Commune. This was followed by lunch at a micro brewery, Paname Brewery Company, which supplies beer to the H4 Hotel Wyndham’ s sky bar and which can be rented out for events, and a walk via the Olympic Village to Cité du Cinéma, which is situated in a former power plant that used to supply electricity to the Paris Metro and which has huge space available for events from Spring 2026, when its renovation is scheduled to be completed.
Cuisine of course is a big draw in France, and the next day a quick jaunt into central Paris brought me to Maison Fleuret to try my hand at making croissants and pain au chocolat under the expert guidance of one of the pastry chefs at the baking school.
Returning to H4 Hotel Wyndham, I caught up with commercial director Ana Pinquet., who noted the hotel has only been open for about 15 months and is ramping up in terms of guest occupancy and achieving its business goals.
In terms of revenue mix, MICE currently comprises 30 %, leisure 30 % and the balance is made up of transients( a mix of corporates and OTAs). Pinquet was quick to add a qualification.“ This is not the revenue mix we aim to have in two years’ time. The future revenue mix we aim for is about 50 % MICE, 30 % transients( corporates) and the rest in leisure.”
The hotel is competitive on cost, she stressed.“ We are close to Paris but we don’ t have Paris room rates. For the MICE business, depending on the season, we are often € 50-70 cheaper than hotels in central Paris.”
Sector wise, pharma is particularly important for the hotel and the H4 Hotel
Wyndham has firm bookings from US and UK events clients, Pinquet said.
Sports / entertainment potential International sporting events and concerts at Stade de France are a key focus for the hotel in terms of individual bookings from sports fans, as are bookings from the Adidas Arena situated in La Chapelle, a multi-purpose, modular sports hall which recently hosted the world badminton championships( all the players stayed at the Wyndham), which is another beneficiary of government funding from the Olympics.
Above: H4 Hotel grand foyer
Left: H4 Hotel conference hall
Pinquet acknowledged that the Olympic legacy had been important.“ Saint-Denis has really been impacted by the new building. For example, the flats built for the Olympic village are now being sold off to private buyers. The government plans to continue to develop the area and its reputation is being improved.”
Challenges? As a new hotel, the main challenge, the management team believes, is building a reputation in the market and marketing the hotel to get the word out there.“ But the hotel’ s potential is huge,” Pinquet stressed.
For my own visit finale, I headed up to the sky bar to check out its views over iconic sites as the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur and to get the thoughts of the hotel’ s general manager, Stig Castoe. Even though it has only been open a short time, Castoe expressed his broad satisfaction at how things are going at the venue.“ We are on the right track. Occupancy is now running at 70-80 %. In the first part of this year, we were at 30 %. We are in an area where there is no similar hotel of this size. We are in a new developed area because of the Olympic City. There is a lot of hotel competition in Paris, of course, but I’ m really proud of the team that we have managed to get to this level so quickly.”
Castoe’ s message was that MICE is vital for the hotel and, given its size, location and the strategic focus of the business, it is well placed to capitalise on the legacy of the Paris Olympics, which promises to be transformational for the local area.
Just as the basilica of Saint-Denis, the area’ s famous religious landmark, which is currently undertaking a major project( Suivez la flèche) to restore its north tower and spire to how it was in 1845, has sought to inspire worshippers down through the ages, the H4 Hotel Wyndham appears no less aspirational in its pursuit of meetings and events. n
ISSUE 139 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 45