Concorde crash still dogs hotel sale

The memory of the Concorde air crash in Paris in July 2000 is still hampering the sale of one of the hotels damaged in the accident.

Christie & Co's Paris office had hoped to find a buyer by the end of 2001 for the 72-bedroom Les Relais Bleus, next to the Hotelissimo, which was destroyed by the crash.

The hotel is now trading well, said a spokeswoman for Christie & Co. But while guests did not seem to have a problem with the recent tragic history of the site, potential buyers did. A possible sale to a French budget hotel chain had fallen through and no serious offers appear imminent.

The spokeswoman did not think that the 11 September attacks in the USA had made the hotel any more difficult to sell.

The hotel was put on the market early in 2001 because guests had proved reluctant to stay so near the scene of the crash. However, by July business had almost returned to normal (Caterer, 15 February, page 8, and 26 July, page 16).