In Paris, a new type of hotel project combines a gym and offices

Located in the northwest of Paris (17th arrondissement), the Foundation required more than five years of work to renovate three buildings, including a former car park.

"To our knowledge, there are no other similar offerings," Brice Errera, president of the Galia group, which owns the premises and also manages the various activities on offer, told AFP.

Like this project, hybrid spaces, which offer a variety of uses alongside traditional hotels (teleworking, events, long-term rentals, offices, etc.) are booming in France.

Here, the office section, rented furnished and with services (café area, caterers for events, etc.), opened this fall, is already fully booked, with tenants including, in addition to the Galia headquarters, the data analysis and artificial intelligence start-up Databricks and the premises of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The group has preserved the ramp from the original parking lot, in order to make it an exhibition space, with the ambition of exhibiting works every quarter.

"It's the soul of the place, the linchpin between all the activities we offer and between which we want there to be synergies," says Brice Errera, whose group has already rehabilitated several car parks (the next one will open in Seine-Saint-Denis to house a Tribe hotel, a brand of the Accor group).

The hotel section has 58 tastefully decorated, 5-star rooms with prices starting at 360 euros per night. In mid-April, before the planned opening on the 29th, the establishment had an occupancy rate of over 40%, according to Brice Errera.

The hotel, operated by Terlia, the hotel branch of Galia, which manages seven other hotels in Paris, has two restaurants open to outside customers, but its originality lies above all in its access to the sports area with a climbing wall and a semi-Olympic swimming pool.

The project was also cited as an example in KPMG's latest annual study on hotel trends, as an "inspiring initiative" that "reinvents the place of sport in the hotel industry."

The fitness area, with group classes and a sauna, is also intended to welcome local residents, several hundred of whom have already signed up for memberships, according to Brice Errera.