How has guest-perceived quality in Paris’s five-star hotel market evolved over time? Do global hotel brands outperform independent properties? And does hotel size influence guest perception of quality?
A new 14-page study, Paris Five-Star Hotel Quality Benchmark 2026, produced by HotScore Analytics, tracks the development of the Paris five-star hotel market across three annual evaluation periods from May 2023 to May 2026.
The analysis is based on 121,959 validated guest reviews and covers between 107 and 114 five-star hotels each year.
The full report is publicly available and free to access here:
Paris Five-Star Hotel Quality Benchmark 2026
https://hotscoreanalytics.com/research/paris-five-star-hotel-quality-benchmark-2026/
The average HotScore for the market increased from 80.3 in 2023–2024 to 81.9 in 2024–2025, before moderating to 81.2 in 2025–2026. Despite the decline from the previous period, the latest result remained 0.9 points above the initial benchmark.
One of the more notable findings is that global branded and independent hotels perform almost identically across the market overall. The difference becomes much more visible, however, among the highest-performing properties.
Global hotel brands accounted for 70% of all Top 10 positions across the three evaluation periods. When independent hotels affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and The Leading Hotels of the World are included, the share rises to 93.3% of all Top 10 positions.
The study also suggests that larger hotel scale is not necessarily a disadvantage in terms of guest-perceived quality. Among global branded properties, hotels performing above the market benchmark averaged 161 rooms, compared with 127 rooms across the global branded segment as a whole.
Leadership at the top of the market remained relatively stable. Four Seasons Hotel George V ranked first in all three evaluation periods, while three other properties remained in the Top 10 throughout the full three-year period.
At the same time, there was meaningful competitive movement beneath this stable core. A total of 19 different hotels occupied the 30 available Top 10 positions across the three years, suggesting a market characterised by both persistent leadership and selective renewal.
The post-Olympic period also produced different patterns across hotel types. Independent hotels recorded the largest decline in average HotScore, global branded hotels remained relatively stable, while regional branded properties showed a slight improvement.
The study does not claim a causal relationship between these movements and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Rather, it documents how guest-perceived quality evolved across an exceptional demand period and the year that followed.
The full report is also available through:
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=7370459
Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/22163785
Suggested citation:
Georgieva, I. (2026). Paris Five-Star Hotel Quality Benchmark 2026: Executive Summary, May 2023–May 2026. HotScore Analytics. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22163785
