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🍴 The 27th edition of Monte-Carlo Gastronomie will take place from November 29 to December 2, 2024, at the Chapiteau Fontvieille in Monaco. Spanning 2500m2, this culinary event will feature over 100 producers of regional products and wines from France, Italy, and Europe. Highlights include daily culinary demonstrations by renowned chefs, the 6th edition of the Maestro Chef competition, and the Slow Food Riviera Côte d’Azur awards for quality, production, provenance, distribution, and innovation.

🎭 From November 29 to December 1, 2024, the 10th Festival OVNI will transform 50 hotel rooms across five hotels in Nice into unique artistic installations, showcasing emerging and established international talents. The event celebrates ten years of art, with special participation by Hotel WindsoR, Hotel West-End, Hotel Le Grimaldi, Hotel The Deck, and Nap Hôtel. The festival will also feature a professional day on November 29.

🏡 Le Balthazar Hôtel & Spa MGallery 5* à Rennes a lancé "Maison Balthazar" en juin, offrant 7 suites-appartements de 40 à 95 m². Les espaces, conçus par le designer Mathieu Challières et l'architecte d'intérieur Xavier Bohuon, intègrent des lustres sur mesure et du mobilier de créateurs. Les résidents ont accès aux services de l'hôtel, y compris une heure à l'espace sensoriel de 300 m². Les suites peuvent accueillir des réunions et déjeuners d'affaires.

🏨 Zenitude Hôtel-Résidences, a French hotel group with 40 establishments, partners with startup Mews to enhance management and client experience using a 100% cloud-based solution. The collaboration aims to streamline operations and maximize revenue through Mews Spaces, offering a chronological monthly view for optimizing accommodation occupancy with adjustable booking periods. Mews also automates customer communications, enabling online check-ins/out and a virtual concierge, improving process consistency. Additionally, transaction security is bolstered by integrating Stripe via Mews Payments for fast, secure client transactions.

🏠 L'Assemblée nationale française votera le 7 novembre sur une loi pour réguler les meublés de tourisme. La proposition de loi, adoptée en janvier 2024 par Annaïg Le Meur (Renaissance) et Iñaki Echaniz (PS), a été agréée par une commission mixte le 28 octobre après 4 heures de négociations. Elle limite l'abattement fiscal à 30% pour les revenus jusqu'à 15 000 euros et impose une déclaration en mairie avec DPE de score minimal E, devant passer à D d'ici 2034, pour toute mise en location saisonnière.

🏖️ The France Tourisme Tech program, launched last week, has introduced mentorship for its second cohort of startups. Mentors from established companies like Addguests, BlablaCar, Le collectionist, Evaneos, Flixbus, HomeExchange, Heetch, and Kactus will offer quarterly follow-ups, specialized coaching sessions, and event participation to help the startups grow and tackle digitalization challenges in the sector. Scale-up Kactus mentors Fairjungle and Affluences, both BtoB market focused startups, promising to aid with their development and market positioning.

🏥 The 24th Hospitality Awards ceremony will be held on November 28 at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, with public voting in several categories. Under the High Patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, the event is chaired by Puneet Chhatwal, CEO of Indian Hotels Company Limited. Juror Mouna Sepehri, with her experience at Renault and co-founder of Orson, leads an impartial jury of experts from diverse backgrounds to evaluate the most significant innovations and initiatives in the sector.

🏨 Hotels do not generate demand on their own, except in rare cases like Ushuaïa in Ibiza. Demand generation vs. demand capture: hotels should focus on capturing demand where they can compete. Key demand generators include destinations, tour operators, airlines/railways, and major media outlets, with social media becoming increasingly accessible and impactful. Cinetourism moves almost 100 million tourists annually, with Gen Z favoring social media over Google for travel inspiration. Hotels compete with metasearch and OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) in capturing demand. Effective demand attraction by hotels involves understanding the customer, maintaining a competitive and attractive product, managing online reputation, monitoring prices, offering promotions, running specific marketing campaigns, ensuring visibility, and analyzing real hotel demand to plan strategies. Direct sales can derive demand toward channels with lower intermediation costs. It's vital for hotels to focus on existing demand and plan distribution strategies accordingly.

📶 Wifirst, a European leader in managed WiFi, offers a turnkey solution for Banks & Insurances, focusing on customer experience and operational efficiency. The WiFi as a Service model ensures robust, secure infrastructure compliant with strict industry standards, supports digital services, and includes proactive AI-based supervision. With a fixed subscription, clients avoid hidden costs and receive full service with maintenance and equipment updates. Wifirst's carbon intensity is four times lower than the telecommunications sector average, aligning with financial institutions' environmental responsibility. This service enables IT departments to concentrate on core business innovations.

🏖️ In 2023, the UK welcomed 38 million foreign visitors, who spent £31.1 billion; figures expected to rise to £32.5 billion this year. The tourism economy is crucial for growth and jobs in the UK. The report recommends reforming England's apprenticeship funding, business tax rates, considering benefits of duty-free shopping for visitors, and prioritizing road connectivity to ports and train terminals. It also warns against the economic drag of potential tourist taxes.