Cheap B&B is not to Parisians’ taste

Danièle de la Brosse is welcoming and talkative. Her guests can expect a spotless room for the night, home-made pumpkin jam for breakfast and as much advice as they want on what to see in Paris.

She is a role model for her fellow Parisians as officials seek to promote cheap and cheerful tourism in a city better known for romance and luxury — not to mention haughty frostiness. As part of a campaign to change the capital’s reputation, officials are encouraging people to follow Mrs de la Brosse’s example and open bed and breakfast accommodation.

“This is something which is very frequent in Anglo-Saxon countries but much less in France and especially in the Paris region,” a spokeswoman for Paris council said. “We want to develop it.”

The aim is to attract visitors who might otherwise be deterred by hotels that frequently charge more than €100 (£90) a night, and to alter their view of Paris with a “smiling and agreeable welcome” from B&B owners, she said.

Ideal hosts, for example, offer “an irreproachable quality of service” and enjoy “contact and cultural exchange”, according to the city’s website. They provide an “impeccably clean room”with a bed of at least 140cm x 190cm, bathroom equipment “in a perfect condition and cleanliness” and breakfast “served with care”.

In Paris such people are hard to find — even among the council’s main target group, families with grown-up children who have left home. Although the initiative began in 2005, officials have only persuaded 600 families to throw open their spare rooms to strangers, well short of the 1,000 target.

Nor are the prices particularly cheap. A few rooms can be found at €40 a night but many cost between €70 and €150 In an attempt to kickstart the operation and overcome cultural reservations, tourist authorities have organised public meetings this year to extol the advantages of running chambres d’hôtes. There is the extra income, bolstered by a tax allowance of 71 per cent, they tell the city’s homeowners.