Long stays: three questions to Olivier Petit, partner at In Extenso

Are you surprised by the resilience of the long-stay hotel sector compared with the traditional hotel sector?

Olivier Petit - This resilience is not a surpriseIt was even envisaged at the start of the crisis. With the pandemic, we seem to be rediscovering the long-stay product, but its advantages were there before and will be there after. In a crisis such as this, with limited reception and services or weekly housekeeping, there is less social interaction, which reduces the risk of transmitting the virus. What's more, fewer services also mean the possibility of selling a little cheaperThis is a good thing at a time of economic tension for both individuals and businesses, and it adds to a limited catering budget. Finally, the product, with its kitchenette, also allows you to get some fresh air while continuing to work and live with your family. So many things that explain this resilience.

How do you see the development of these residences, which are adding a host of services around their flats?

O. P. - I share it in moderation. If you look at it from the consumer's point of view, of course I'd rather have a 30 m2 room than a 15 m2 room, and be able to go to the restaurant one evening and use the kitchenette the next to heat up a meal and spend a quiet evening. But, if I put myself from the investor's point of view, it's less attractive. It's important to remember that the tourist residence model involves larger flats with fewer services and therefore fewer staff. In hotels, the range of services on offer is offset by smaller rooms. What kind of business model, apart from the luxury sector, can make a living by combining a large number of rooms with a high level of service? The aparthotel has real legitimacy when it stays within its logic. There's no mystery to the fundamentals.

Does adding all these services go against these fundamentals?

O. P. - Let me give you an example: if the residence has a restaurant, I don't need to have a kitchenette in my room, and if it does, I'm bound to eat less. It's the same with the seminar: the added value in terms of surface area that a long-stay flat brings is antinomic. After a day of meetings, the organiser doesn't want his staff to stay in their rooms, eating a reheated pizza and watching a football match. On the contrary, he'll want to get his team together in a restaurant for a good evening out, which is also likely to finish late. Hence the lesser interest in spending one or two nights in 25m2 rooms.