Thomas

🏠 A new "regulation" law impacting seasonal rentals and concierge services in France will increase tax and legal obligations from January. Conciergeries nationwide must now inform owners of legal requirements, with penalties for non-compliance reaching €12,500 per property. Fiscal changes include a reduced deduction rate from 50% to 30% and a lower income cap from €77,000 to €15,000. Airbnb's expansion of its Co-Host network adds 20,000 new potential co-hosts to the existing 10,000, posing additional competition to local conciergeries.

📌 Sénat voted on new rental laws; effective January 1. Abattement fiscal reduced from 50% to 30% starting January 1, 2025, for furnished tourist rentals; revenue cap lowered from €77,700 to €15,000. Classed meublés de tourisme now have a 50% abattement with a €77,000 ceiling, down from €188,700. Assembly may further reduce abattement to 30% during the budget project discussions. A national registry for meublés will be created; owners must declare properties, providing documentation including environmental compliance. Sanctions for non-compliance can reach up to €50,000.

🛒 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.