Hotel prices up 41% in eight years

The average price of a hotel room in France has risen 41% in eight years – more than twice as fast as inflation.

According to government statistics agency Insee in the first six months of 2008 prices rose 7.4% alone – three times as fast as inflation, then 2.1%.

The head of the survey Géraldine Seroussi said factors such as rising electricity, gas and food costs had all combined to increase prices.

Over eight years the average price of a room in a one-star hotel has risen from €28.97 to €41.09 a night (up 41.8%); a two-star from €46.43 to €66.46 (up 43.1%) and a three-star from €96.41 to €137.33 (up 42.4%).

The head of the union of hoteliers in Paris, Bertrand Lecourt said that prices simply fluctuated according to demand.

According to Didier Arino of the Protourisme, a body which advises businesses in the tourism industry, large hotel chains were driving the trend.

“It’s the large chains like Accor who have set the tone,” he said: “When the clients fall back because the prices have gone through the roof, as was the case this July, they start promotions.”

Accor financial director Jacques Stern said that prices had risen 2-2.5% during the first few months of the year with average and higher quality rooms rising 5.4%, roughly in line with inflation.

One in four of France’s 18,000 hotels are dilapidated according to the Comité pour la Modernisation de l'Hôtellerie Française.

Hotelier organisation, l’Umih has denied the allegation claiming that “the vast majority of hotel rooms are in perfect condition”.

Photo:Garybembridge