Juridique et Administratif

🚀 The FEVAD recognizes a shift in e-commerce public policy leadership, previously centralized in France's Ministry of the Economy, now involving three ministries: Partnership with Territories, Economy, and Higher Education and Research. The organization stresses the need for coordination to ensure policy effectiveness and pledges to monitor the ministries' decree contents. In the face of increasing regulations and both climate and digital transitions, the FEVAD urges ongoing public sector dialogue and cooperation, emphasizing e-commerce's importance to the national economy, employment, and French daily life.

🏨 In Europe, the CJUE has definitively prohibited "extended or restricted parity" clauses from Booking.com contracts, a policy initially contested by a Dutch court. France banned such clauses with the 2015 Macron Law, followed by Italy and Sweden; other countries have joined through legislation or court rulings. Extended parity prevented hotels from offering lower rates than those on Booking.com on any channel, while restricted parity only applied to the hotel's own sales channels, allowing other OTAs to offer lower prices.

📱 During the IFTM Top Resa 2024 event, Cédric Lopez from Sojern highlighted artificial intelligence (AI) as transforming the tourism landscape by enhancing marketing performance and content targeting. AI generative intelligence adapts website content based on user data like origin, age, and behavior. Despite Google's recent decision not to eliminate third-party cookies from Chrome, allowing users to choose their activation, the tourism industry is shifting towards "hashed emails" for online traveler targeting while maintaining privacy. Additionally, the RGPD's right to data portability is considered inferior to the ID enrichment approach for user targeting and experience.

🏡 Pascal and Elisabeth Bourzeix, owners of Château de Vault-de-Lugny, expanding with Clos Jordan acquisition and first Burgundian vineyard planting for a new luxury villa opening in 2025. The Clos Jordan, a historic hunting lodge from Louis XIII's era on 2.5-hectare walled park, includes a wine cellar and snail farm. Renovations began in summer 2024, aiming for completion by 2025 to coincide with the hotel's 40th anniversary.

🛈 The Spanish employer's union, representing over 16,000 hotels, criticizes a new measure demanding extensive guest information, including personal details, contact numbers, email, travelers' count, payment data, and driving license details for car rentals. CEHAT highlights the challenge of manual submission, risking errors and excessive workload. The hotel industry, typically collaborating with Spanish security, finds the requirement for unofficial data, which isn't on ID documents, unmanageable for automated systems.

💾 Google revises the timeline for phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome, allowing users to choose whether to be tracked. Apple's ATT on Safari shows third-party cookie acceptance rates between 12%-40%; Chrome users who have disabled cookie tracking already account for about 40%. Cendyn has been preparing clients since 2019 for the shift towards first-party data strategies. Hotel marketers are advised to enrich their proprietary audience databases, segment and leverage these audiences, explore new advertising platforms like Pinterest, and utilize AI and machine learning tools. The hospitality industry must adapt to a future where privacy is prioritized and cookie reliance is reduced.

🍴 The decree dated February 12, 2024, modifies the specifications for the food hygiene training required for commercial catering establishments. The training remains at 14 hours. Exemptions apply for individuals with at least three years of professional experience in the food sector or holders of level V professional diplomas and above. Training must now include a minimum of two hours of practical scenarios per seven-hour period. Training organizations must submit electronic requests twice yearly, in May and November. Those authorized before the decree must reapply by March 31, 2024, but can operate until April 30, 2024. The new authorization requires adherence to Annex II specifications and at least one training session every two years. The decree also updates required documentation for authorization requests, distinguishing pedagogical from administrative documents, with annual updates. The directive adds new elements to the training framework, emphasizing the "know your hygiene package" principle and the ability to identify deviations and take corrective measures.

📈 A 300 million euros Territorial Accessibility Fund, established over five years, was created by decree n°2023-993 on October 27, 2023, and published in the Official Journal on October 28. Prioritized for category 5 establishments in municipalities hosting 2024 Olympic Games events, but open to all applicable ERPs, the fund aids SMEs, micro-enterprises, and TPEs with unsigned quotes for expenses not yet incurred. The fund covers 50% of accessibility work up to 20,500 euros per establishment, and recipients must list on www.acceslibre.info post-completion. Applications are submitted through the ASP website.

📚 A hiring aid for apprenticeship contracts signed from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024, is extended, with an amount of €6,000. Contracts need to be for apprenticeships aiming for a professional diploma or title up to level 7 (equivalent to a Master’s degree). Large companies with over 250 employees must meet additional criteria, such as attaining at least 5% of employees on professional integration contracts or a 3% rate of alternants, with a 10% increase compared to the previous year, by December 31, 2024. No specific request procedure is noted, just declare the hiring of an apprentice. Contracts from July 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022, not yet submitted, must be sent to the OPCO by March 31, 2024, to benefit from the exceptional aid scheme.