When your city has an unenviable reputation for insulting tourists and fleecing them for every cent , inviting hotel guests to pay what they want could be a risky move . That 's the experiment being tested by several hotels in the French capital during the height of the summer season . `` It 's something like a trust contract between the client and the hotel , '' says Aldric Duval , who came up with the `` Payez ce que vous voulez '' ( Pay what you want ) concept as a gimmick to promote Tour d'Auvergne , his three-star hotel in the city 's Opera district . Duval has recruited four other city center hotels , variously rated with three and four stars , to the scheme which runs from July 21 to August 10 . He tells CNN he struck on the idea after successfully running an honesty bar that left it up to guests to declare their booze consumption at check-out . In the City of Light , it seems hotel guests are not generally light fingered . Allowing them to choose their own room rates -- instead of paying typical charges of about $ 250 -- will not only bring in the punters , but will also give the hotel valuable feed back , he adds . `` We put guests at the heart of the system and we transform them into a mystery customer . They will look at the hotel with a new eye and if they play true in this game , it can work . '' If guests decide their stay is barely worth a dollar -- or euro , this being Paris -- then it could it could also wind up being an embarrassing financial disaster . Duval does n't think so . Friendlier to tourists . `` If the client wants to pay one euro , there 's nothing I can do , but people will know that this approach is not a good deal , we 'll explain it 's not fair if they pay one euro . '' `` We could have run a promotion offering free rooms to the first 15 people to answer a question on our Website , but we 've decided to do this instead . '' Duval says the scheme has attracted interest from other hotels in Paris and elsewhere in France , with several in Cannes and Nice planning similar deals for the winter low season . The pay-what-you-want scheme follows recent comments by France 's foreign minister , Laurent Fabius , that the country needs to be friendlier and more accommodating to visitors if it want to protect an annual tourism income of $ 16 billion . Duval said his scheme was n't a response to this and complained that the government should be doing more to help hoteliers during tough economic times . `` To be friendly to the tourists Laurent Fabius must cut the hotel taxes and charges , then Paris will be better and more attractive and not so expensive . '' It 's unlikely , however , that Fabius will let them set their own tax rates . What would you pay if you could choose your room rate ? Let us know in the comments .
Five hotels in Paris have signed up to the pay - what - you - want scheme during peak holiday months . Hotelier Aldric Duval says the plan is to create a ` ` trust fund '' between client and hotel . He says guests could pay one euro for a hotel room but that most will ` ` play true ''