As far as investments on renovating their establishments is concerned, hoteliers are currently caught between the difficulty of financing projects in a depressed economy, and the obligation to comply with standards laid out by new regulations, particularly in terms of accessibility and fire security. 47% of hoteliers questioned by Hospitality ON, through a survey realized with Olakala, affirm that they invested more in their property in 2013 either due to regulations (24% of respondents) or to improve their product (23% of respondents). Inversely, 45% of those surveyed estimate that their investment is below normal because of financing problems (17% of respondents) or business uncertainty (28% of respondents). For most, 71%, the total of these investments is not more than 100,000 euro per hotel across the year, regardless of its size. Renovation works undertaken to meet regulatory obligations account for a good share of total investments. For more than half of French hoteliers surveyed, they account for more than 20% of all investments, and this percentage sometimes surpasses 80% (11% of respondents). Survey results also show that the sums allocated to renovations for bringing products up to standard are similar as far as accessibility and fire security are concerned. For an average-sized independent property, each of these two areas requires an investment ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 euro depending on the nature of the work to be done.Between the obligation to upgrade properties that are not up to code and the difficulties financing renovations within a complicated economic context, the problem currently being encountered by hotel professionals is not easy to solve.
