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Summary of our market study
Sales of 5-star hotels are estimated at 5.2 billion in 2023 and and total hotel activity is expected to exceed 25 billion euros.
In France, there are 31 Palaces and over 430 5-star hotels
The global luxury hotel market is worth over $150 billion. North America is the most dynamic market in this sector.
In France, 5-star hotels account for 14% of total hotel sales.
Four- and five-star luxury hotels account for only 9% of hotels in the provinces.
Around a quarter of foreign tourists opt for luxury accommodation, the majority of them preferring hotel chains to independent hotels.
Demand for luxury hotels in France can be divided into two main categories: business and leisure customers. Leisure guests account for the majority of Palaces and 5-star hotels, and are growing fast compared with business guests, who account for only 10-15% of all Palaces guests.
Some luxury hotel giants
- Westin Hotels & Resorts: The pillars of well-being Westin Hotels & Resorts represents a sanctuary of health and rejuvenation in the luxury hotel segment.
- St Regis Hotels & Resorts: The pinnacle of timeless elegance St Regis hotels and resorts are legends in the luxury hotel sector, offering experiences that exceed expectations.
- Leading Hotels of the World: A collection of unrivalled distinction As the umbrella organization, Leading Hotels of the World offers a selection of the world's most magnificent independent hotels.
- Waldorf Astoria: The Legacy of Signature Luxury Waldorf Astoria has been setting standards in the hotel industry for over a century.
- Fairmont Hotels & Resorts combines environmentally-friendly practices with luxury.
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and presentation
Luxury hotels are accommodations with exclusive, personalized and unique services, where the guest is the focus of attention and the experience must be impeccable. There are a number of strict criteria that must be met for a hotel to qualify as a luxury hotel. Very often, these are 5-star hotels, but this is not always the case, as luxury hotels can emphasize different hotel characteristics, such as exceptional design or the history of the building. On a global level, luxury hotels are frequently chains. Among the most important are :
- AccorHotels
- Relais & Chateaux
- Four Seasons
- The Leading Hotels of the World
- Marriott International
- Intercontinental Hotels Group
In France, luxury establishments welcome 60% of foreign tourists every year, and the majority of them belong to major hotel chains. In fact, independent hotels are less popular than chain hotels. If we consider only hotels with the palace distinction, foreign customers account for 80% of overnight stays. This market suffered greatly from the health restrictions imposed by the pandemic, but showed an exceptional recovery in 2022 and 2023. Sales for 5-star hotels are estimated at 5.2 billion in 2023, up 26% on 2019.
Luxury hotels in France are found in remarkable sites, urban areas and winter sports resorts. 5-star establishments account for 4.24% of French hotels.
The technological environment is having a major impact on the luxury hotel sector, which has to keep pace with technological progress by building more direct relationships with its customers via social networks. So, the evolution of technology is very important for this market. The luxury hotel market is very much influenced by the arrival of younger generations in the luxury segment, who are changing travel and consumption habits.
1.2 The growing global market
The global luxury hotel market was valued at $***.** billion in **** and is expected to grow at a CAGR of **.*% over the period ****-****.
Global luxury hotel market World, ****-****, in billions USD Source: ****
The most dynamic market is North America, with a market share estimated at **.** billion dollars in ****. Europe also ...
1.3 French market in exceptional post-pandemic recovery
French hotel business
After an exceptional year for the French hotel industry in ****, business in **** remains strong, driven by an influx of international visitors and an increase in end-of-season bookings. Although occupancy rates for summer **** were slightly down on the previous year, average prices continued to rise, contributing to a solid ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Typology of demand
From the outset, there are two very different types of hotel customer. These are business and leisure customers.
Business customers include: executives, sales representatives (***), researchers, technicians, workers and the self-employed, who travel for varying lengths of time, depending on the work to be done on site. They are segmented as ...
2.2 A relationship with travel that has evolved since the end of health restrictions
In ****, YouGov conducted a post-covid travel survey, focusing on luxury travel. Although the survey was carried out on a global scale, it provides up-to-date information on the travel trends of the world's wealthiest people. For **% of those surveyed, travel has become more important since the end of the pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, the ...
2.3 Stays in French hotels
French hotels
There are a number of unclassified or star-less hotels that are not included in the graphs. The graphs therefore focus on * to * star hotels. In France, there are ***** different hotels, including *** *-star hotels. *-star hotels account for **.* thousand rooms, or *.**% of total rooms in France.
Number of establishments by ...
2.4 The importance of foreign customers
French luxury hotels, like French luxury in general, find a large proportion of their customers internationally. While Asian customers are the biggest market for luxury clothing, luxury hotels seem to be particularly popular with North Americans (***). According to INSEE, **% of overnight stays in *-star hotels in France in **** were made by ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Value chain and hotel operations
Organization chart of a typical hotel
Source: ****
Here's a non-exhaustive organization chart showing the structure of a hotel and the staff required to run it. obviously, the size of the establishment will have a huge influence on the number of staff, their functions, etc., but it does allow you to visualize ...
3.2 French luxury hotels
According toINSEE, France had *** *-star hotels in ****, offering a total of **,*** rooms.
The website atout-france.fr lists the establishments that have received * stars since ****, with a total of ***. The following map shows the regional distribution of these establishments, and shows that a minority of regions account for the vast majority. The ...
3.3 Sales structure: distribution of reservations and sales breakdown
In the cost structure section, we will detail the distribution channels used to book hotel rooms, as well as the breakdown of sales, which will give us an overview of the sector's cash inflows and outflows.
Direct distribution channels
Website Telephone line Social networks
These are channels where sales are made ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Average prices for French luxury hotels
While the average price of a Palace room fell slightly in ****, by **** it will have risen to ****.*€. Courchevel is the most expensive destination, with an average price of ****.*€, ahead of the Riviera at ****.*€ and Paris at ****.*€.
In comparison, the average price for *-star Superior hotels in France is ***€, with a maximum ...
4.2 Online presence and competition from OTAs
Two independent factors are making online life difficult for hotels:
The emergence of OTAs, which attract customers and even steal them from hotels by offering more attractive prices The neglect of hotels' e-reputation doesn't improve their visibility, leaving the field open to OTAs
With the digitalization of distribution channels, these factors ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Star classification
France's tourist hotels are subject to a new classification system introduced in ****.
This classification makes it possible to review the positioning of hotels.[***]
For all five categories, the new classification guarantees the following:
A warm welcome in a clean, well-maintained establishment with family-friendly facilities. Full and accurate information on the establishment's ...
5.2 Rights and obligations of hotel professionals
Since January *, ****, hoteliers have been subject to new price information obligations (***). [***]
First of all, if you are setting up a hotel, before opening the establishment, the operator must obtain an opening permit from the prefecture of the défollowing this, and after an on-site investigation, a conformity visa may be issued, ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
- Accor Hotels
- Intercontinental Hotels Group
- Barrière Groupe
- Booking.com
- Egencia France
- Relais & Chateau
- Radisson Hotels
- The Originals Hotels
- Logis Hotel
- Mandarin Oriental
- Peninsula Hotels
- Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
- Louvre Hôtels Groupe
- Sofitel (Accor)
- Le Shangrila Hotel Paris
- Oetker Collection
- The Leading Hotels of the World
- Kempinski Hotels
- Tiara Hotels & Resorts
- Marriott
- Hilton Hôtels
- Domaines de Fontenille
- Hyatt
- LBHC Boutique Hôtels Collection
List of charts presented in this market study
- Global luxury hotel market
- 5-star hotel sales
- RevPar by range in 2023
- Typology of the Palaces' clientele
- Perception of travel as a function of income
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Latest news
Laurent Gardinier or the life of a castle - 01/07/2024
- - Relais & Châteaux Association: Over 70 years old
- Number of affiliated hotels: 580
- Presence in 60 countries
- Groupe Gardinier: present in wine, haute gastronomy and hotels
- Brands and properties : Domaine Les Crayères in Reims, Drouant, Groupe Taillevent, Le Comptoir du caviar and 20% of Domaine de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence
Accor aims to revitalize the Ibis, Novotel and Pullman brands - 18/06/2024
- 46 brands divided into two categories:
- - Luxury hotels (Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel) and lifestyle hotels (Mama Shelter, The Hoxton).
- - establishments from entry-level to premium, with a focus on Ibis, Novotel and Pullman.
- - Novotel: 580 hotels.
- - Ibis: 2,500 hotels.
Cruises, luxury, hotels: Marriott's ogre-like appetite in France and Europe - 06/06/2024
- world leader in the hotel industry
- Evrima, the first yacht in the Ritz-Carlton collection.
- In September, launch of a second model
- A third vessel under construction
- Acquisition of Starwood, in 2016, made it the world leader in hotels, with nearly 9,000 establishments and over 30 brands (Sheraton, Le Méridien, Courtyard)
- Sales of over $23 billion in 2023.
- The group has 69 hotels in France, and another 20 in the pipeline, half of which will open before the end of 2025,
- LVMH present in the hotel business under the Cheval Blanc, Belmond and Bulgari banners
Barrière wants to capitalize on the legendary Fouquet's - 15/04/2024
- - Focus on luxury with renowned hotels in Courchevel, New York, and the Majestic in Cannes
- - The aim is to raise the level of prestige and desirability of these establishments.
- - Renovation plan for Fouquet's Paris, with the ambition of obtaining palace classification.
- - Aim to replicate the success of Fouquet's in New York.
- - Identification of 20 to 30 new destinations for expansion, mainly via management contracts.
- - Groupe Barrière is the leader in the French casino market.
- - Production of 4,000 shows a year in its casinos.
- - International presence with three casinos in Switzerland, two in Egypt and one in Côte d'Ivoire.
Tourism: record year for Accor, more profitable than ever - 22/02/2024
- - Accor has recorded growth in revenue per available room of +22.7% in 2023.
- - The hotel group's sales increased by 18% to reach 5 billion euros in 2023.
- - The Premium, Midscale and Economy division, which accounts for just over half of revenues, grew by 17%.
- - The Luxury and Lifestyle division grew by 22% and contributed 41% of sales.
- - Accor's net income in 2023 was 633 million euros, compared with 402 million in 2022, an increase of 57%.
Caisse des Dépôts supports the Domaines de Fontenille hotel business - 14/02/2024
- Domaines de Fontenille group acquires Manoir du Sphinx
- Caisse des Dépôts invests 50 million euros in the company's capital.
- Domaines de Fontenille group founded by Guillaume Foucher and Frédéric Biousse, in 2015.
- The group owns around ten hotels.
- Most sales (80%) are direct, which saves platform commissions.
- The group achieved sales of 30 million euros in 2020, and plans to increase this to 40 million by 2024
- The group has 100 million euros at its disposal to expand in France. It plans to acquire eight additional hotels.
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The luxury hotel market | France
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