The annual French hotel study conducted by MGK Hospitality shows an interesting statistics concerning the independently owned hotels in France. The total number of independently owned hotels in the country estimates 18,500 properties with 648,000 guestrooms. This is significantly less comparing to the results from the previous report. Last year this category was decreased by 634 hotels and 12,300 guestrooms.
French hotel industry suffers from constant shrinkage, and the supply is decreased mostly because of hotels from the independent category. New hotels are usually opened by large hotel chains, but they cannot improve the total statistics of hotels’ supply in France. One of the reasons of the fewer number of new hotels is difficulties associated with launching new projects and increased popularity of long-stay residences.
The problem of shrinkage of the total capacity of hotels in France can become a serious problem on the country level as foreign travellers might choose other locations for their rest, and tourism industry is very important for every country.
Many independent hoteliers are not able to survive in the economic crisis. Many of them also offer outdated services and cannot fit the expectations of modern travellers. An interesting detail – the majority of closed independent hotels belong to the economy accommodations segment. At the same time, there’s even the growth in supply in midscale and upper midscale segments. Experts think that the future of independently owned hotels in France is in opening small full service hotels in city centers.