Le Marais (Paris 3rd): 51 hotel-conversion applications since 2024, the fastest-accelerating district in France

Since 2013, the 3rd arrondissement of Paris has recorded a total of 267 planning applications creating hotel-type accommodation (hébergement hôtelier) floor space through conversion, representing 38,739 m² of converted surface (excluding cancelled applications). The striking signal is not so much the cumulative volume as the recent pace: 51 of these applications have been filed since 2024, nearly a fifth of the historic stock concentrated over a short period.

This shift comes in the wake of the Le Meur law, which tightened the regulation of conventional short-term furnished rentals. For many Marais owners, the response has not been to give up, but to secure the operation legally by changing the destination of the property towards hotel-type accommodation — a status that permits year-round hosting without the night caps applicable to residences.

On a national scale, this record share of stock filed over the last two years places the 3rd arrondissement at the top of the ranking of accelerating municipalities and arrondissements. The Marais is not merely a mature market; it is a market reinventing itself in regulatory terms.

The breakdown by origin is revealing. Of the 267 approved applications:

• Offices: 138 applications, the majority by far — the dominant origin;
• Retail: 101 applications;
• Housing: just 18 applications.

This profile is telling. The Marais has an old tertiary building stock, often on upper floors, partly downgraded or ill-suited to modern office standards. Faced with a Paris office market under strain, converting these spaces into hotel-type accommodation offers a second economic life that is far more profitable per square metre.

The small share of converted housing (18 applications) is also notable: it shows that the momentum in the 3rd has virtually no impact on the occupied residential stock, contrary to the received wisdom that tourist accommodation "eats into" housing. Here, conversion is driven first and foremost by tertiary and retail spaces.

Finally, note that newly created floor space remains marginal (845 m² in total): the bulk of the value comes from converting existing space, not from construction. The total of 74 rooms declared in the applications remains modest, as many approvals concern spaces with no room count recorded.

The approvals granted in 2025 confirm both the trend and the diversity of the projects. A few recent examples in the 3rd:

• 11B rue Barbette — 1,344 m², retail origin, approved on 2 April 2025: by far the largest operation of the period, a sign that substantial retail spaces are shifting towards hotel use;
• 54 rue Charlot — 128 m², office origin, approved on 17 December 2025;
• 9 rue Béranger — 64 m², office origin, approved on 16 April 2025;
• 24 rue Pastourelle — 31 m², office origin, approved on 29 April 2025;
• 135 rue du Temple — two applications of housing origin (79 m² on 25 February 2025 and 27 m² on 3 July 2025).

Here we find the Marais's dual face: large retail spaces being reconverted on one side, and a myriad of small office operations of 30 to 130 m² on the other. This fine granularity is typical of an old, fragmented urban fabric, where each co-ownership can carry its own project.

To check a specific address or track filings around a property, the observatory of conversions in the 3rd arrondissement lets you cross-reference location, origin and application status.

Several factors combine to explain the 3rd arrondissement's position.

Scarcity and tourist demand. The Marais is one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in Paris. Demand for accommodation there is structurally strong and barely seasonal, which secures occupancy rates for hotel-type accommodation operated year-round.

A tertiary stock ready to be mobilised. With 138 applications of office origin, the arrondissement has a reserve of convertible space that few other neighbourhoods offer at this density.

Legal certainty after the Le Meur law. By switching to hotel-type accommodation destination, an owner exits the constrained regime of conventional short-term furnished rental. This is precisely the meaning of the spike in filings since 2024: anticipating and future-proofing an operating model. It is at the heart of our support with change of destination towards hotel use.

A word of caution, however: the process is not automatic. Over the period, 40 applications were cancelled in the 3rd arrondissement. A change of destination requires a project compliant with the PLU (local urban plan), co-ownership rules and accessibility and fire-safety standards. The quality of the case makes the difference between an approval and a refusal.

For an owner or investor holding an asset in the Marais, the reading is clear: conversion towards hotel-type accommodation has become an established market strategy, driven primarily by office and retail spaces.

Three useful reflexes:

• Assess your property's potential according to its origin (offices and retail are the most favourable), its floor area and its layout;
• Check regulatory feasibility upfront, to avoid joining the 40 cancelled applications;
• Understand the year-round operating framework, which distinguishes hotel-type accommodation from conventional furnished rental.

To go further, see our page dedicated to the 3rd arrondissement, our guide to renting in Paris, and our overview of the hotel-type accommodation model. The Marais shows the way: for many owners, the question is no longer "should I convert?" but "how do I do it properly?".

The figures cited come from the Sitadel database (SDES, French Ministry for Ecological Transition), which records planning permits. We isolated applications creating hotel-type accommodation floor space arising from a conversion, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, since 2013. The headline figures (267 applications, 38,739 m² converted, 845 m² created, 74 rooms, 51 applications since 2024) exclude the 40 cancelled applications. Data vintage: July 2026. Spaces with no room count recorded explain the gap between the number of applications and the number of rooms.