France : july 2012, West in the fog

But the difference may be clearly felt between the capital of Paris and the rest of the country. Despite levels that are high overall, the gap between the OR in Paris –close to 88%– and in other regions – around 70%– is getting wider. These 18 points make the difference when it comes to justifying average daily rates that are up by close to 10% in the capital and only 1.3% in the rest of the country. The destination Paris continues to feed the dreams of international clientele, and this dream is still affordable thanks to the drop in the exchange rate for the euro. The crisis may be through the downgrading of domestic clientele, especially business clientele, to lower hotel categories. The most resistant categories with the most favorable changes last July were the 2* and 3*, with a slight drop for upscale hotels. Like last year, Paris’s upscale segment benefited from Ramadan, which generated earlier stays as they usually took place in August. Although the capital did well, hotels in the provinces posted more mixed results. Particularly for shoreline destinations where occupancy is stable or down from last year. The economic slump lowers the buying power of households and results in a drop in domestic nights. These destinations show a later start for the summer season than a few years ago. The bad weather that marked the first weeks on Brittany’s coast was not inconsequential for occupancy that was already down. But organized events partly made up for this bad trend (see Focus Brest). While professionals have mostly reported a disappointing beginning to the summer, it must be remembered that the levels of activity remain high and that the RevPAR continues its growth. It is still close to 3% growth on 12 months to end July 2012, whereas...