November: daily occupancy worthy of a riot-free month

The results revealed by the daily programme Hotelcompset.com, launched by MKG Consulting in September 2004 and which now includes 1,500 hotels in France, allow us to better understand the impact of the events on France’s hotel activity. Of course the first two weekends of November attest to a slump in business (OR at 68% for the weekends of the 43rd week (before the riots) versus ORs of 62% and 57% for the weekends of weeks 45 and 46). While November’s riots apparently dissuaded some tourists, at this time of the year drops in occupancy may be better explained by the long weekends of November 1st and 11. On the other hand the analysis of weekday performance reveals a satisfactory month of November, thanks to the international bi-annual Batimat salon. Weeks 45 (7 to 13 November) and 46 (14 to 20 November) post occupancy rates that are higher than 80%, be they in Paris or its suburbs, including in areas touched by the urban violence! Outside the city, the schema is fairly comparable: same causes, same effects. In some regions, hotels in outlying areas near zones marked by the violence, such as Evreux, Le Mirail near Toulouse or Vaux-en-Velin at Lyon even realised global ORs that were better than in zones that were spared! While the phenomenon was less evident in Paris’s suburbs, the difference remains slight. The clashes did not prevent suburbs such as Grigny or St Denis from posting a 22 pt increase in occupancy rate on a period that nonetheless includes the biggest riot (whereas the increase was by 28 pts in suburbs that were spared). This phenomenon may be explained in some cases by a stronger concentration of economy hotels in peripheral areas plagued by troubles, and above all by the absence of massive cancellations by French...