Thomas

🛒 In France, during the 2023 Black Friday week, home equipment spending reached €751 million, a slight decrease of 1% from 2022. Over 5 years, Black Friday revenue increased by 22% according to Kantar Worldpanel. The average spend per person in 2022 was €67, with a yearly budget of €330 for French consumers. The three days of Black Friday accounted for 10% of total November sales.

🏠 Airbnb's "co-host" program, launched a year ago with over 10,000 participants across ten countries, offers owners assistance from other experienced hosts. A law to be voted on November 7 aims to regulate seasonal rentals. Co-hosts handle tasks like creating listings, managing calendars, pricing, reservations, and guest services, typically charging 10-25% commission per booking, averaging around a 20% cut. This model competes with concierge services, potentially affecting their market as Airbnb focuses on expanding long-stay (30-90 days) offerings, with high-quality or technical properties possibly remaining under concierge dominion.

📖 The French Senate will vote on a law regarding "meublés touristiques" on November 5, followed by a vote in the National Assembly on November 7, with the law taking effect on January 1, 2025. The "micro-BIC" scheme allows a 30% tax deduction on rental income up to €15,000 annually, and a 50% deduction for classified guest rooms and furnished tourist rentals up to €77,700. Previously, the deduction for tourist furnished rentals was 50% up to €77,700 and 71% up to €188,700 for classified furnished rentals. A preliminary declaration in the city hall is mandatory for all seasonal rental properties, with DPE requirements aligning with year-round rentals. A DPE score below E (D by 2034) is necessary to rent out properties. Non-compliance can lead to penalties, and municipalities can set their own regulations, like those recently established in Saint Malo. Additionally, the law will increase taxes on the sale of furnished rentals by eliminating the use of fiscal amortization, which currently enables 70% of owners to avoid paying any tax on rental income.

🏖 Arival's study surveyed over 7,000 tour operators worldwide, including France and Belgium. 80% of the industry consists of SMEs with fewer than 10,000 clients annually. 40% of operators lack a modern booking system, potentially hindering growth. From 2010 to 2023, the average number of resellers dropped from 11 to 4, while OTA market share rose from 25% to 41%. Operators' revenues are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by 2024, despite uneven recovery and inflation impacting Europe's summer 2024. In 2025, 43% plan to raise prices, down from 53% the previous year.

🏨 H2C's annual report surveyed 3885 hotels revealing a market shift towards direct and mobile bookings. Direct online bookings in the hotel sector normalized post-pandemic, with a significant 29% share in 2022, decreasing to 19% in 2019 and slightly rising to 21% in 2023. Mobile traffic accounted for 36% of direct online revenues five years ago, reaching 42% in the previous year. Only 25% of tourism businesses have embraced digital transformation, and a mere 12% consider themselves at the forefront of digital technologies. Despite this, 60% of tourism operators plan digital projects in 2025, the year when online bookings in Europe surpassed offline, with 60% for leisure and 40% for business travel.

🏠 Tribunal administratif de Rennes rejects 14 property owners' challenge against Saint-Malo city regulations on October 17, aiming to control Airbnb/Booking listings, introduced in June 2021 and February 2022. These regulations, deemed the strictest in France, include zoning with quotas per district, especially in the historic city center, and change of use permissions limited to individuals, excluding SCI or SAS entities. The tribunal validated the decrees, noting they address a general interest of combating housing shortage in Saint-Malo, citing a reduction of 70 short-term rentals from the market between 2023 and 2024. Mayor Gilles Lurton of Saint-Malo cites a 40% increase in property sales prices over five years due to real estate speculation fueled by tourist rentals. Paris tribunal of commerce decision on Airbnb's appeal, concerning hoteliers' accusations of unfair competition damaging the hotel economy, is awaited. Airbnb upholds its compliance with platform regulations after a 6-year legal battle. Previous 2023 Paris Appeal Court ruling held Airbnb accountable for a tenant's illegal sublet, suggesting responsibility for content on its platform.

🌍 Lily Ray highlights Google's dominance in travel searches and bookings, with Google Travel pages ranking #1 for "voyage" and "flights" keywords in September. Google Travel suite includes Google Flights, dominating with major airlines and budget opportunities, Google Hotels, increasingly featuring small local businesses, Google Vacation Rentals, controlled by OTAs like VRBO and Booking, and Google Explore, promoting personalized experiences. Google Flights introduces a "Cheapest" filter feature globally, to be available in two weeks, focusing on price, potentially leading to longer layovers or secondary airports. The feature's launch is timed strategically before Black Friday and the holiday season.