February saw a rebound in French hotel activity after several months of sluggish performance. Despite occupancy levels that are still somewhat lower than in 2023, the performance indicators are once again showing a positive trend. Against all expectations, this positive trend is largely being driven by the northern part of France, while the southern regions are still lagging behind, with the exception of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur.
In this second month of the year, the French hotel industry posted an occupancy rate of 56.5%, still lagging slightly behind February 2023 (-0.9 points). However, the occupancy rate has improved considerably compared to the previous month, when it stood at 53.5%, a gain of three points, and compared to February 2022, with an increase of +7.7 points.
While the inflation rate fell in February according to INSEE, French hoteliers are still banking on their pricing power strategy. The average daily rate is now 107 euros, up 2.2% on 2023 and 20.8% on 2022. The price trend is therefore much more marked than in the previous month.
French hoteliers are posting a slight increase in RevPAR compared to February 2023, +0.6%, reversing the trend observed until last month. This increase is all the more remarkable when compared with 2022, with a rise of around +39.9%.
The midscale and upscale segments are the only ones to post an increase in occupancy compared to 2023, with rises of 0.4 points and 2.9 points respectively, while the economy and budget segments are lagging behind by -1.3 points and -3.5 points. The first two segments are also driving up the country's passenger numbers, with occupancy rates even higher than the national average.
However, the trend is reversed in terms of fares, with the economy and budget categories posting increases of +1.4% and +1.8% respectively, while the midscale and upscale segments have seen their prices fall compared to February 2023, by -0.2% and -0.9% respectively. The economy segment also recorded the highest price increase compared to 2022, +15.8%, closely followed by the midscale segment, +15.7%.
However, the slight rise in average daily rates did not enable these categories to post RevPAR growth, with budget RevPAR plunging by 4.4%. Conversely, the slight fall in prices in...
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