The start of a new year is traditionally a time for taking stock before looking ahead to the future and new developments. This January, the SNCF is announcing a cascade of balance sheets, with a total of record passenger numbersEurocontrol notes that the European sky is gradually approaching pre-pandemic traffic or Paris Orly to exceed its 2019 traffic levels. However, not all is well. While French airports or London Heathrow are generally flirting with the volume of passengers seen before the covid, major European hubs such as Paris CDG and Frankfurt are still seeing traffic down by more than 10% compared with 2019.
Although the hotel groups have not yet announced their results for 2023 - you will have to wait until mid-February to do so - one thing is certain: the pandemic has only momentarily affected their business. their growth dynamic. For Hilton, the last quarter of the year was the strongest in its history in terms of development, with the opening of 132 hotels for almost 24,000 rooms.
Even better for the Radisson Group, which, with 250 openings and signings combinedhas added 30,000 keys to its portfolio by 2023. A record number, marked by several major openings such as the Radisson Collection Santa Sofia in Milan, the Radisson Blu in the Porsche Design Tower in Stuttgart, in addition to some forty Radisson hotels around the world and the dynamic lifestyle brands. Radisson Red and Art'otel. As for future projects, the group is preparing, among other things, for major additions to its Radisson Collection luxury brand, expected this year in Lyon and near Bordeaux, but also in Casablanca and Lagos in 2025.
Like Radisson, Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt have announced a record year in 2023 for new projects, driven as much by organic growth as by the conversion of existing hotels to their brands. Hilton, for example, has signed up nearly 1,000 new hotels, adding to a pipeline of 462,000 rooms and 3,300 hotels, its highest level ever. This should enable the American group to keep pace with Marriott, the world's leading hotel operator, which has a pipeline of 573,000 rooms.
In line with the overall trend, in 2023 Marriott posted a record number of signatures new contracts - almost 2.5 per day - for growth of 15% compared with 2022. This means a total of 164,000 new rooms in the pipeline. The year was marked in particular by a mega contract in the domestic market, the licensing agreement with MGM casino resortswhich added 37,000 rooms to the pipeline in one fell swoop.
Its development continues to focus on strengthening its position as leader in the luxury hotel sector, with 245 hotels in the pipeline, of which around twenty are expected this year. in the mid-range. Following the acquisition and integration of the City Express group as a bridgehead in Latin America, Marriott plans to duplicate this strategy in Europe with the launch of Four Points Express by Sheratona new brand dedicated to the EMEA region.
Another segment is becoming increasingly attractive to American hoteliers, at least in their domestic market: mid-range hotels for long stays. This type of accommodation has seen an unprecedented wave of new brands recently unveiled, including Hyatt Studios in April 2023, StudioRes by Marriott in June, before the revelation this January of LivSmart Studios by Hilton. Its 22e a brand for which Hilton has already announced 350 projects.
For its part, Hyatt estimates that it has 200 projects at various stages of development for its Hyatt Studios. Through this martingaleIn the US, the group plans to increase its presence in secondary and tertiary American cities, new domestic markets less suited to its top-of-the-range brands. However, this is still the niche that is driving the group's growth. Like its competitors, Hyatt is delighted with a record year in terms of the number of agreements signed, taking the number of rooms in the pipeline to 127,000.
Among these, 35 luxury hotels expected by the end of 2025 - including Park Hyatt in LondonThis is complemented by new additions to its Unbound Collection, major business hotels from Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency in Mexico City, Panama and Dubai, and the global expansion of Hyatt Centric and Caption by Thompson in major cities around the world, including Rome, Vienna, Seville and Shanghai in Asia. All this is complemented by new additions to its Unbound Collection, major Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency business hotels in Mexico City, Panama and Dubai, and the global expansion of Hyatt Centric and Caption by Hyatt.
As for Accor, although the leading group on every continent outside North America and Greater China has not announced precise figures like its American counterparts, its latest quarterly results at the end of September showed a pipeline of 219,000 rooms and 1,273 hotels. In line with its commitment toto expand its luxury and lifestyle footprintAccor is expected to open around a hundred hotels in this segment over the next two years, while at the same time planning to sign at least 50 new contracts of this type each year.
The 2024 programme includes an Orient Express in Rome and Raffles in Jaipur, Jeddah and Singapore, the Fairmont pennant flying over the Breakers Hotel in Long Beach, California, and on the Cape Gracein South Africa, and new members for MGallery going from from Marseille to Sapporo via Nairobi and Cuzco. And, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Sofitel brand, the opening of a new flagship hotel in Shanghai, north of the Bund. In addition, its subsidiary EnnismoreThe lifestyle-focused Hyde store in London will soon make its debut, with new Hoxton stores in Vienna and Edinburgh to follow later in the year, as well as the opening of SLS Barcelona and the arrival of Mama Shelter in Nice and Dubai.
