French hotel industry performs well in 2013

The first semester of 2013 finished on a positive note for the French hotel industry. Faced with an increasingly difficult market context, hotels throughout France improved performance levels. 

Despite a general downturn in occupancy, hotels managed to increase rooms revenue, thanks to a significant upsurge in average rates. This was the case throughout all the destinations analysed.

The end of the first semester 2013 smiled on the Parisian hotel industry, as all categories saw rooms revenue progress. Thanks to higher average rates than last year, RevPAR grew by +7% to +22%. More specifically, the Upscale and Luxury segments experienced particularly significant increases, as a result of the stronger efforts of new properties in this segment this year. Given the improvement in performances since the beginning of the year, cumulated results are much better than last year, driven by higher average rates.

Ile-de-France also fell in with this trend, posting healthier RevPAR (+7% to +11%), given improved average rates. Budget hotels recorded even stronger progressions thanks to a rise in occupancy. Not surprisingly, hotels located in departments adjacent to Paris achieved better trading performances than those located elsewhere in the region, and more significant increases, too.

Regional hotels followed the same pattern, with improved RevPAR driven by higher average rates. The Super-budget category was the only one to remain stable. However, occupancy in regional hotels was significantly lower than last year, falling between -0.1% to -6.3%. Luxury and Super-budget hotels suffered the most, recording drops in occupancy of -6.3% and -2.5%, respectively. This fall in demand has generally led to lower cumulated RevPAR than that recorded in 2012. Upscale hotels on the Côte d‟Azur were the only ones to experience a fall in RevPAR, further to a significant drop in occupancy. This trend has generally been observed over the first semester 2013. Conversely, Midscale hotels have continually posted the highest increase in RevPAR compared to other categories, again thanks to higher average rates