After the summer vacation, the month of September posts results in line with the previous months.The business is back on track but it is normally affected by a gloomy economic climate. The RevPAR is down by 8.0%, a drop that is slightly higher than the average performance of the last twelve months (-7.4%). Indeed, in 2008, France first demonstrated a rather strong resistance in the face of the economic trend reversal. The results started to really drop in November. Therefore the September result is not aggravating a distressed situation. However, the occupancy stagnates (- 3,7 pts) several points under the 2008 performance, even though the level is rather high at 72.4%, during one of the busiest period of the year. The upscale segment and, in a softer way, the midscale segment, had to be easy on the tariff to stay busy. Thanks to efficient Revenue management strategies, the OR in 4* only drops by 1.9 pt. On the contrary, the budget segment is more affected. This segment domestically orientated is strangely weakening, especially considering the performances of the hard budget category.
The gap of performance between Paris and the Regions is still strong. Its role as an international gateway is clearly responsible for the pressure on ave rage daily rate in the Parisian hotels. They experienced a drop of 10.8% as the tariffs in the Regions managed to keep afloat (+0.5%). The midscale and upscale categories in Paris are compelled to adjust their strategies to the lower travel expenses in corporations and to stimulate the Leisure market in the shoulder season through large promotions. As a result, le ADR of the 4* segment dropped by 15% while the OT managed to progress by 1,3 pt. Same thing in the 3* category with a drop of 10,6% in ADR but only a loss of 0.4 pt in OR. But the good news is that the global OR in the French capital is close to 85%, more or less the same level as 2008. Hopefully it means that the bloodshed is easing. On the contrary, the level of activity in the Regions is far more inferior with a continuing decrease of neary 4 pts, thus under the 70% mark. On the positive side, Marseilles and Toulouse both post increases of their Revenue per available room. This quite a change for the Pink City who had to go through difficult times recently.
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