Seasonal rentals and hotels: who wins the duel?

The figures for holiday bookings in France are in. We now know whether the French prefer holiday rentals or hotels. Any ideas before you read on?

Once again this year, the French are choosing to rent hotels! According to Europ Assistance: “Only 29% of French holidaymakers will sleep in a hotel during their stay this summer, compared to 46% on average for Europeans”.

And this, despite the definite increase in rental prices! +9.4% for houses in the mountains, +7.6% in the countryside and +7.2% for the seaside.

Among the most popular regions, we find, not surprisingly, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (excluding the coast), the region that is progressing the most with +49%, followed by the Côte d’Azur (+37.5%) and Corsica (+26%) (in comparison with 2019).

According to the agency, the French do not shun hotels, but are very attached to holiday rentals.

The main explanation would come from the impressive choice of rentals offered. Indeed, in France, there are about four million second homes. That’s a lot of possibilities!

More and more people want to feel at home, in a cocoon with a garden, rather than being constrained by hotel hours. If you are going to travel in your own country, you might as well do it in a house!

What do you think? When you go on holiday, where do you choose to sleep?

If you are interested in this topic, we also have an article on the figures for tourist accommodation in 2021.