Like many hoteliers, are you seeing a timid recovery in business for Balladins hotels?
Fabrice Beyer - That's right. After a summer in which, with the exception of the Paris region, visitor numbers showed interesting results, September was a mixed bag. The fine weather sustained demand from leisure customers, but business customers remain cautious. With the pandemic on the rise again, companies are being cautious about travelling or holding meetings. In addition, trade fairs and conferences are tending to be postponed or cancelled. We depend on all this.
What action have you taken in response to the health crisis?
F. B. - This required us to think about how to support hoteliers differently, and to find new ways of marketing. Since the end of confinement, we've been stressing the importance of the direct bookingwhich offers travellers the assurance of the best fares, as well as greater flexibility for cancellations and refunds. To reassure customers, we have also put forward the guide to good health practice which we have established hand in hand with the hoteliers in our network, some hotels having gone even further by taking steps to obtain the SafeGuard label from Veritas. The fact remains that, because of the pandemic, we have not been able to put in place the communication tools we had planned for this summer to publicise the importance of the SafeGuard label. new "nuances that we have given to the Balladins brand.
To reassure customers, we have put forward our guide to good sanitary practice.
How are you progressing with the Balladins brand?
F. B. - Our reputation continues to be based on the Balladins name, which is very present in the minds of travellers. However, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, to take over the brand two years ago, our first objective was to make it easier to understand. Balladins was a mono-brand with a heterogeneous network of two- and three-star hotels, with large, medium and small hotels that could be located in the city centre, on the outskirts or in rural areas. That's why we came up with the idea of better categorise the offering based on four nuances (Editor's note: Initial by Balladins, Authentic by Balladins, Urban by Balladins, Inspiration by Balladins) and the My Home long-stay range.
What are your development ambitions?
F. B. - Today we have 35 establishments, with two planned openings in Toulouse and Vittel which, given the circumstances, have been postponed until the second quarter of 2021. In the future, we may have 50-60 establishments, or even more, but our aim is not to grow fastbut in a reasoned way. Obviously, it takes longer, but we had anticipated this slower pace. On the other hand, what we didn't anticipate was the current crisis. The pandemic has put the brakes on our objectives and our ambitions for growth. Some hoteliers with whom we are in talks are waiting to see how the situation will develop, which we fully understand. At the same time, we also want to develop our own business, and not just through franchising. To move faster.
