Paris, France – 18 May 2017 –
When Paris’s landmark Hotel de Crillon reopens in July after a four-year 200 million euro revamp, it will be hoping to catch a rebound in the luxury hotel trade after a wave of bloody street attacks drove away big-paying tourists, Reuters reported.
Industry figures suggest that tourism in the French capital is recovering after heavy falls in late 2015 and much of 2016, though some experts caution that luxury hotels may have to wait up to five years before trade returns to normal levels.
The Reuters report said that, with the luxury end of the market relying heavily on foreign visitors, the likes of Hotel de Crillon have been hit hardest by the drop in tourists after the Islamist attacks.
Occupancy rates of Paris luxury hotels fell 15 percent to 52 percent last year while revPAR sank by 22 percent to 500 euros, its lowest level since 2009, according to data from research firm STR for luxury property specialist Jones Lang LaSalle.
However, those numbers have been on the rise in the first four months of this year, driven by a return of Russian, Chinese, Japanese and US visitors, said Christophe Laure, head of the French UMIH Federation for prestige hotels.
Hotel de Crillon, which was built in 1758 and has applied for the right to join a select group of 23 French luxury hotels that can call themselves palaces, is targeting an average occupancy rate of 55-60 percent, managing director Marc Raffray told Reuters.
“A true tourism recovery is under way in Paris, which remains a special city and still makes foreigners dream. I am confident about our capacity to return in coming years to a cruising pace above that of the current market,” Raffray said, citing “very encouraging” booking levels.
The 124-room Crillon, owned by a Saudi Prince and run by Hong-Kong based New World Group’s Rosewood Hotels, is looking to attract guests from the United States, the Middle East and Asia’s fast-growing wealthy elite.