Bordeaux, France's No.1 City for Conversion to Hotel-Type Accommodation: 384 Applications Approved

The figures from the Sitadel database are unequivocal: Bordeaux is France's number-one city for planning permissions creating hotel-type accommodation (hébergement hôtelier) floor area through conversion. With 384 applications approved (excluding cancelled applications) since 2013, the city outstrips not only the other regional metropolises, but also each individual Paris district.

In total, these permissions represent 65,551 m² of floor area converted to hotel-type accommodation, plus 3,025 m² of newly created floor area, for a combined total of 518 rooms declared. On top of this, there are 32 cancelled applications, excluded from our headline figures so as to retain only projects that were actually approved.

This leadership is no statistical fluke. It reflects an underlying trend in which Bordeaux property is shifting massively towards tourist and business accommodation — a movement that directly concerns owners looking to secure a year-round short-term rental operation. To place a specific property within this trend, the observatory of conversions in Bordeaux allows you to search address by address.

This is where Bordeaux differs radically from Paris. Of the 384 approved applications, the breakdown by origin is telling:

• Dwellings: 285 applications — nearly 70% of the total
• Retail premises: 52 applications
• Offices: 26 applications

In Paris, the logic is generally the reverse: it is mainly former offices and business premises that become hotels or residences, while the conversion of dwellings is tightly regulated in order to preserve the residential housing stock. In Bordeaux, dwellings are by far the leading source of conversion to hotel-type accommodation.

This distinctive feature is explained by the local regulatory framework, which we detail in the next section. In practical terms, it means that a very large number of Bordeaux residential properties have shifted to hotel-type accommodation status, opening the way to operation as a short-term rental (meublé de tourisme) without the constraints of the standard change of use. To understand the applicable rules, our guide to letting in Bordeaux sets out the position.

The key to understanding this comes down to one rule: Bordeaux's change of use regulation, which is particularly strict in the most pressured areas. In zone A, the compensation required is 2:1: to convert a dwelling into a standard short-term rental, an owner must compensate by returning to the residential market an area equivalent to twice the area converted.

This requirement makes the "standard" change of use economically prohibitive for many owners. As a result, a good number of them turn towards a change of destination to hotel-type accommodation, a route that follows a distinct planning logic and, where correctly handled, permits durable year-round short-term operation.

It is precisely this mechanism that explains the over-representation of former dwellings in the Bordeaux statistics: constrained on one side, the conversion shifts on the other towards a legal framework better suited to tourist accommodation. This shift does, however, require rigorous processing. Our team dedicated to the change of destination to hotel supports owners at every stage of the application.

The fabric of Bordeaux conversions is far from uniform. Recent permissions illustrate a wide variety of formats:

• 2 rue Paul Bert — 594 m² from dwellings, 21 rooms, approved on 31 October 2025: a typical example of residential conversion to hotel-type accommodation.
• 5 rue du Vergne — 5,798 m² of former offices converted into 210 rooms, approved on 17 December 2025: a major structuring scheme.
• 1 rue de la Benauge — 5,356 m² from a former public service, 113 rooms, approved on 13 February 2026.
• 31 rue de la Boétie (74 m²) and 2 rue Entre-Deux-Murs (60 m²), both from retail premises: small-scale operations.

We also note applications whose origin is already classified as hotel-type accommodation, such as 115 rue Georges Bonnac (163 m², approved on 18 February 2026), a sign of restructuring within assets already dedicated to accommodation.

This variety shows that the trend is not reserved for institutional investors: an individual owner with a property of a few dozen square metres can also be part of this movement. The full Bordeaux page lists our local analyses by neighbourhood.

Since 2024, 19 new applications have been approved in Bordeaux: the pace remains steady, without being explosive. For an owner, several lessons emerge.

First, a property already converted to hotel-type accommodation is a rare and sought-after asset: it allows year-round short-term operation without running into the 2:1 compensation of the change of use. This enhances its value both on resale and on acquisition.

Next, for those considering a conversion, the Bordeaux route is well mapped out but demanding: planning permission, compliance with the local regulation, consistency of the project with the hotel destination. A poorly calibrated application joins the 32 cancelled applications recorded in the database.

Finally, whether you are selling a property that is already in operation or a buyer looking for a compliant asset, it is essential to check the actual status of the premises. Our teams work both on hotel-type accommodation and on enhancing the value of short-term assets. Consulting the observatory remains the first reflex to assess a situation objectively before any decision.

The figures quoted come from the Sitadel database (SDES), which records planning permissions. We retain only applications creating hotel-type accommodation floor area through conversion (change of destination), since 2013. The headline figures relate to approved applications excluding cancelled applications (384 applications, 32 cancelled mentioned separately). Data vintage: 2026-07. Areas are expressed in square metres and the number of rooms corresponds to the values declared in the applications.