Lyon Lumière Festival: Tarantino throws hotel activity to the top of the box-office

For the fifth consecutive year, the city of Lyon put classic cinema up in lights, attracting national and international celebrities. The events and showings took place all over Greater Lyon to the great pleasure of hoteliers who saw their attendance soar, as shown by the data collected daily by MKG Hospitality

The action of the fifth edition of the Lyon Lumière Festival rose throughout the week from October 14th to 20th, 2013. No less than 45 film events were organized in 24 municipalities of Greater Lyon. But the high-point of the festival took place over the last three days, highlighted when the Lumière Prize was awarded to director Quentin Tarantino, who succeeds Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, Gerard Depardieu and Ken Loach. The closing ceremony was attended by a significant number of national and international celebrities.

The city's hoteliers fully benefitted from the spotlight which was trained on all of Lyon during the festival. Their attendance reached a good level this year, exceeding a 90% occupancy rate on the 15th and 16th of October. The occupancy was also maintained at a high level during the weekend, usually a period of lower activity for hotels in Lyon, including an occupancy rate above 80% on Saturday, October 19th. Average daily prices, meanwhile, remained above 100 euro, allowing hoteliers to achieve a turnover of 87.4 euro per available room throughout the period.

The fifth edition of the Lumière Festival was more successful for the hotel business in Greater Lyon than last year. Over the whole period, the occupancy rate rose 10.3 points for a room revenue up 16.5%. The year-on-year growth in hotel performances reached record highs over the three days of the weekend, marked by the arrival of the guest of honor at the festival, Quentin Tarantino, and other film celebrities. After the closing ceremony on Sunday, accommodation turnover more than doubled due to the 29.9-point increase in the occupancy rate and the 20.3% increase in average daily prices. The day before (Saturday night), turnover also nearly doubled (98.2%) compared to last year.

This international event bolstered the activity of Lyon's hoteliers, already well-oriented since the beginning of the year. In the first eight months of 2013, revenue per available room has increased by 4.1% in Greater Lyon, in all categories, driven by higher occupancy rates and average daily prices, respectively 0.6 point and 3%.