September 2023: French hoteliers are successful

Once again, average daily rates are driving this growth, up 11.1% compared with September 2022 and 27% compared with September 2019. Unsurprisingly, the combination of a recovery in corporate travel and the hosting of Rugby World Cup teams and supporters gave hoteliers plenty of scope to leverage their pricing power.

Occupancy remains 0.3 points higher than in 2022, but 1.6 points lower than in 2019.

In more detail, the midscale segment is the most resilient in terms of occupancy, with 1.2 points better than in September 2022. Yet this is the segment that has pushed up its prices the most (+12.7%), being able to offer a wider range of services than budget establishments and not having reached the levels of upscale hotels.

Next comes the upscale segment, up by 0.3 points. Economy and budget hotels are approaching 2022 occupancy levels, once again benefiting from a very favourable events calendar as France hosts an international competition. However, not all segments are reaching September 2019 occupancy levels, with a 1.6 point lag.

It is in the regions that the Rugby World Cup effect is having the greatest impact, with occupancy above 2019 and 2022 levels, reaching 74.9%. However, the Île-de-France region, Paris and the départements outside Paris still managed to post an increase in RevPAR. The figures are +7% for Paris, +6% for Île-de-France excluding Paris, and +6.5 for the region as a whole. In the regions, RevPAR jumped 16% to €86 excluding VAT, ahead of the Paris region excluding Paris at €81.4 excluding VAT.

Lyon benefited the most from the September matches, with OR up 3.1 points on 2022 and 5.9 points on 2019, average daily rates up 33.2% and RevPAR up 38.5% on 2022 (€123.02 excluding VAT) and 72.4% on 2019.

The same increase in occupancy rates for Lille compared...