Both the major hotel groups and the major airlines can be delighted with the results reported for the third quarter of the year. A period driven by leisure customersThe Accor group explains that it benefited from "the recovery in business travel", particularly the welcome upturn in long-haul travel, but also from a traditionally busy month for business travel in September. The Accor group explains that it has benefited from the " return of business customers at major trade fairs and exhibitions" .
For the second consecutive quarter, the French hotel industry recorded revenue per room higher than in 2019. Compared with the third quarter of 2019, the increase is even quite significant (+14%), due to a combination of price rises that are still significant and a return to high levels of occupancy, particularly in hotels in major cities that have long been penalised by the absence of international customers.
In the Paris region, for example, Accor notes that after a favourable summer for leisure activities, " business customers continued to drive the rebound in occupancy ratesnow close to pre-crisis levels" . But this recovery dynamic is not confined to France, and can be seen in virtually every part of the world, with the exception of China and South-East Asia. "With the exception of Asia-Pacific, where business is now picking up again, all our geographic regions are growing in relation to 2019." says Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor.
Similarly, and as far as air transport is concerned, Air France-KLM is reporting higher revenues than in 2019, a result achieved while capacity remains limited to 89% of the pre-crisis level. The load factor was 88.4% in the third quarter, a level almost equal to the 90 % achieved in 2019. And this despite restrictions on flights from one of its key hubs, Amsterdam Schiphol.
In addition to the strength of summer demand and the performance of Premium cabins, the Group notes that ". recovery in business traffic in the third quarter" . The result is a unit revenue Passage per Seat Kilometre Offered up by more than 50%, driven by this high demand and fare increases, particularly on long-haul flights. " Despite the rise in fuel prices and inflation, the Group posted a solid operating result and remains confident in its ability to further increase capacity during the winter season." said Benjamin Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Air France-KLM.
These two major players in the French business travel market are no exception on the world stage. The load factor of the Lufthansa Group's airlines is also in line with that of France. in the waters of the record level reached in 2019at more than 86 %. " After all, the desire to travel, and therefore the demand for air transport, is not waning.This is the opinion of Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa, which, in addition to the German airline, also oversees Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss. The Group has put the pandemic behind it economically and looks to the future with optimism" .
Strong demand for leisure activities, a return of business customers
Its airlines carried more than 33 million passengers between July and September, compared with 20 million in 2021. Many of these passengers travelled in business and first class cabins. Their load factors were higher than in 2019, marking changes in demand from leisure customers for these premium offers. At the same time, the airline group notes that " bookings by business travellers also continued to recover "This is a very positive development, with revenues in this segment close to 70 % below pre-pandemic levels.
" Business travel continues to recover steadily" said Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG, parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, among others. Business segment revenues returned to around 75 % of 2019 levels. However, this was a far cry from the revenue generated by high-end leisure customers, which achieved the same performance as in 2019. Like Air France-KLM, whose results may have been partly penalised by the turbulence at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, IAG has also been hit by the financial crisis. restrictions imposed on London Heathrow. Even so, the Group posted a 21.9 % increase in passenger unit revenue in the third quarter compared with 2019, compared with a 6.4 % increase in the second quarter of 2022.
The return to pre-pandemic levels is becoming more widespread in the travel industry, as evidenced by the performance of the world's leading hotels. Like Accor, the British group IHG posted third-quarter results of RevPAR 2.7 % higher than in 2019driven by a 12% increase in leisure demand. While the hotel industry in China is still being penalised by the "zero covid" policy, RevPAR in the Americas was " much higher than three years ago" according to Keith Barr, CEO of IHG, while " the Europe-Middle East-Africa-Asia region has returned to broadly stable levels compared with 2019" . The CEO of IHG also noted " the continued return of business travel since the beginning of the yeare ". Travellers will have noticed a significant rise in their hotel bill against a backdrop of inflationary pressure, with Business rates up 7%.
Noting that "thehe upturn in demand from individual and corporate business customers has led to an increase in the number of new customers.group", as well as " the continuing strength of leisure travel" Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta is delighted to have seen RevPAR exceed that of the same period in 2019." for the first time since the start of the pandemic" . With this RevPAR 5% higher than in 2019, " the third quarter marked an important stage in our recoverynoted Christopher Nassetta. We expect these strong trends to continue throughout the fourth quarter. "A forecast in line with those announced by all these players.
