Double-digit growth is a long way off, but in the current socio-economic and political context, any growth in indicators, however small, is once again a sign of the resilience of the hospitality industry.

French RevPAR is up 2.2% in February 2025 compared to 2024, combining a small improvement in the occupancy rate (less than 1 point) and a slight increase in the average daily rate, approaching 1%.

The low-cost and budget hotel sector, the first ‘victim’ of the economic slowdown and in particular of the crisis in the construction and property development sectors, is doing better than in previous months. Its occupancy rate stabilised at around 54% to 56%, a respectable performance at the start of the year, albeit at the cost of stagnation or even a slight fall in average daily rates, which prevented it from contributing to the sector's dynamism. For all that, the low-cost, super-eco hotel sector is no longer a burden on the sector as a whole.

As a result, growth in the upper midscale and upscale categories can have a major impact on the hotel business as a whole. Further improvement in the overall indicators for these two segments, with a further significant boost for the upscale segment, boosted by international leisure customers. The improvement in the dollar/euro exchange rate is helping to attract North American customers, who are a particular favourite in Paris.

For the first two months as a whole, growth was positive. It is still affected by the slow start to the budget hotel sector, but the trend is positive and should remain so until the end of the 1st quarter. In the absence of any major geopolitical surprises.

Over the first few months of the year, the upscale hotel sector has shown no signs of running out of steam, which is...