Meetings and events are key to H4 Hotel Wyndham Paris Pleyel’s business, and hotel GM Stig Castoe recently welcomed CMW’s Simon George to explain how this new kid on the arrondissement is reaping some of the events legacy of the Paris Olympics.
Historically, the gothic basilica of Saint-Denis containing the tombs of many of France’s kings just to the north of Paris has dominated the local skyline for almost a millennium. Until recently that is. Now there is a new kid on the arrondissement and a new aerial landmark in the shape of the 4-star H4 Hotel Wyndham Paris Pleyel Resort located in the 140m high Tour Pleyel, which opened its doors in June 2024 just in time for the summer Olympics in the French capital.
The hotel has 697 rooms including a sky bar on the 40th floor with panoramic views over Paris and a swimming pool and gym just below it, and its key MICE USP – its own dedicated conference centre a short walk away.
Olympics boost
The H4 Hotel Wyndham is a key beneficiary of the French government’s investment in the area in terms of legacy projects from the Olympic Games, which is set to boost local business, fund the renovation of local event space, improve regional transport links and ultimately lead to urban regeneration. Witness the impact of government funding on Barcelona from the 1992 Olympics, which regenerated previously run-down industrial areas, helping to transform the city.
Maison Fleuret
The H4 Hotel Wyndham certainly has a strategic location: just 20 minutes’ walk from Stade de France, close to a big transport hub (four new Metro lines and extensions to existing lines including a direct link to Charles de Gaulle (CdG) airport are being built as part of the Grand Paris Express ‘super metro’ project, one of the Olympics’ legacy projects and currently Europe’s largest construction project), and just 15 minutes by Metro from the centre of Paris.
In terms of meeting infrastructure, the hotel’s 10,000sqm conference and events centre offers 16 flexible meeting rooms, all with natural light and equipped with the latest technology, and a 1,180sqm plenary hall and space for up to 2,600 guests. Size is clearly not an issue. The conference centre can stage exhibitions, gala dinners and international summits.
Local attractions
To gain a flavour of the local area and to explore what event delegates might expect in their down time, I took a guided tour of Saint Ouen Flea Market, the largest of its kind in the world, courtesy of Agence d’attractivité de Plaine Commune. This was followed by lunch at a micro brewery, Paname Brewery Company, which supplies beer to the H4 Hotel Wyndham’s sky bar and which can be rented out for events, and a walk via the Olympic Village to Cité du Cinéma, which is situated in a former power plant that used to supply electricity to the Paris Metro and which has huge space available for events from Spring 2026, when its renovation is scheduled to be completed.
Saint Ouen Flea Market
Cuisine of course is a big draw in France, and the next day a quick jaunt into central Paris brought me to Maison Fleuret to try my hand at making croissants and pain au chocolat under the expert guidance of one of the pastry chefs at the baking school.
Returning to H4 Hotel Wyndham, I caught up with commercial director Ana Pinquet, who noted the hotel has only been open for about 15 months and is ramping up in terms of guest occupancy and achieving its business goals.
In terms of revenue mix, MICE currently comprises 30%, leisure 30% and the balance is made up of transients (a mix of corporates and OTAs). Pinquet was quick to add a qualification. “This is not the revenue mix we aim to have in two years’ time. The future revenue mix we aim for is about 50% MICE, 30% transients (corporates) and the rest in leisure.”
H4 Hotel grand foyer
The hotel is competitive on cost, she stressed. “We are close to Paris but we don’t have Paris room rates. For the MICE business, depending on the season, we are often €50–70 cheaper than hotels in central Paris.”
Sector wise, pharma is particularly important for the hotel and the H4 Hotel Wyndham has firm bookings from US and UK events clients, Pinquet said.
Sports/entertainment potential
International sporting events and concerts at Stade de France are a key focus for the hotel in terms of individual bookings from sports fans, as are bookings from the Adidas Arena situated in La Chapelle, a multi-purpose, modular sports hall which recently hosted the world badminton championships (all the players stayed at the Wyndham), which is another beneficiary of government funding from the Olympics.
Pinquet acknowledged that the Olympic legacy had been important. “Saint-Denis has really been impacted by the new building. For example, the flats built for the Olympic village are now being sold off to private buyers. The government plans to continue to develop the area and its reputation is being improved.”
Challenges?
As a new hotel, the main challenge, the management team believes, is building a reputation in the market and marketing the hotel to get the word out there. “But the hotel’s potential is huge,” Pinquet stressed.
For my own visit finale, I headed up to the sky bar to check out its views over iconic sites such as the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur and to get the thoughts of the hotel’s general manager, Stig Castoe. Even though it has only been open a short time, Castoe expressed his broad satisfaction at how things are going at the venue.
“We are on the right track. Occupancy is now running at 70–80%. In the first part of this year, we were at 30%. We are in an area where there is no similar hotel of this size. We are in a new developed area because of the Olympic City. There is a lot of hotel competition in Paris, of course, but I’m really proud of the team that we have managed to get to this level so quickly.”
Castoe’s message was that MICE is vital for the hotel and, given its size, location and the strategic focus of the business, it is well placed to capitalise on the legacy of the Paris Olympics, which promises to be transformational for the local area.
Just as the basilica of Saint-Denis, the area’s famous religious landmark, which is currently undertaking a major project (Suivez la flèche) to restore its north tower and spire to how it was in 1845, has sought to inspire worshippers down through the ages, the H4 Hotel Wyndham appears no less aspirational in its pursuit of meetings and events.