What is the current status of the Odalys City offer?
James Galland - A good development dynamic. After the first two openings of Odalys City in 2009, development was limited to three or four establishments for several years. At the time, our group, which has a holiday DNA, had the capacity to position itself opportunistically in city centre operations, but without the logic of an aparthotel brand. Everything really accelerated from 2015-2016 onwardsWith a real focus on this offering and the creation of a dedicated team. And today we have 31 city-centre locationsOdalys City offers two ranges of flats: the four-star Odalis City Prestige and the mid-range Odalys City Cosy. There are almost 3,000 flats throughout France.
However, given that the Odalys name is closely associated with holiday rentals, was it easy to position the Odalys City brand in a type of accommodation largely dedicated to business customers?
J. G. - Admittedly, it was complicated for our sales teams at first. Their contacts were often confused with our holiday businessWe've also been able to offer a wide range of other products, which are popular with works councils. But all that is now behind us, thanks to the hard work of our teams, our marketing efforts and, at the same time, the development of our network. Today, we are truly recognised as aparthotel professionals. by business customers. No doubt we still need to make this more widely known. As the Odalys Group diversifies its activity well beyond leisure, with more and more openings for Odalys City as well as for our Odalys Campus student residences, our communication logic could evolve in the future. We are still at the reflection stage.
Let's take a closer look at your offering. What were your latest openings?
J. G. - After inaugurating Odalys City Paris Montmartre in 2019We set up in Le Mans just before the pandemic, with an establishment in the heart of the city; a product that has proved popular with a large business clientele thanks to the city's strong insurance sector, strong demand from congresses and the Le Mans 24 Hours. More recently, we have extended our offer to ToulouseAt the beginning of the year, we opened the Odalys City Toulouse Compans Caffarelli in the city centre, followed in May by a four-star aparthotel at Toulouse Blagnac airport, right next to the Safran and Airbus sites. This opens up enormous prospects with corporate customers, as we have already signed major contracts with companies in the aeronautical sector.
We wanted to develop our establishments by giving pride of place to the communal areas, with completely redesigned lobbies.
James Galland, Director of Operations and Development at Odalys City
With these two openings, you also unveiled your new brand concept, which will be present in all your future establishments and in older ones as they are renovated. Can you tell us more about this development?
J. G. - Previously, our concept was in line with market standards, but we felt that it lacked originality. Hence our desire to develop our establishments by giving pride of place to the communal areas with completely redesigned lobbies. Alongside flats with a soothing, more contemporary feel, these lobbies have been transformed into living spaces where our guests can share good times. The Odalys City in Toulouse Blagnac, for example, features a magnificent 200 m2 lobby with a coworking spaceamong other services. Depending on the establishment, we also offer meeting rooms, fitness facilities, spas and swimming pools.
Meeting rooms, swimming pool, spa: urban residences offer . Is this your way of standing out from the competition?
J. G. - These different services are not part of our systematic specifications. Seminars are not our core business, but in some places they are, we add this brick if there is a real demand for it. This is the case at Toulouse Blagnac, for example, and will also be the case at the Odalys Marseille Euromed, an apartment hotel due to open in June 2023 right next door. the CMA-CGM and La Marseillaise towers. This 'big boat' has seminar rooms, including a plenary room for 100 people, a restaurant managed by us, and a spa with swimming pool. In the same way as for the seminar rooms, depending on the availability of land and what the competition is offering in the surrounding area, we may be able to integrate a wellness offer.
But is the coworking component going to be deployed in all your aparthotels?
J. G. - It's still too early to say whether coworking will become a standard service in our specifications, but we can see that there is a real demand for it, whether from mobile professionals or people who want to be able to organise mini meetings quickly. I think we need to have this offer, and where we can set up a coworking space, we will do so. We had already addressed this subject in our mixed Odalys City and Odalys Campus establishments. Coworking is now an official feature of Odalys City establishments such as Toulouse Blagnac, with a real space equipped with the right connections so that you can work in peace and quiet close to the lobby, in a friendly atmosphere.
Toulouse, Marseilles: is your development mainly geared towards major French cities?
J. G. - And more. We now have three establishments in Toulouse, and will soon have four in Marseille. An aparthotel will be opening in Nice in 2023, opposite the airport. We'd also like to have a presence in Lille and Bordeaux. But we're also expanding into markets where there's less depth, such as Le Mans, which I've already mentioned. On the year's agenda are openings in Angers and Nîmes, followed by Nancy in 2024. Closer to home, at the end of June we will be opening our first establishment in Le HavreA beautiful four-star product with seminar rooms and an ideal location, just 100 m from the station. There's a real demand for this town, no doubt driven by its mayor. And in January 2023 we will be opening a second three-star establishment in the town, as part of a development that also includes a Campus student residence.
As well as these openings in France, do you also have international ambitions?
J. G. - Exactly, and we're opening at the beginning of the summer. an Odalys City in PortoThen there are others in Lisbon and Seville, as part of the Odalys City-Odalys Campus 'combo' developments. In Europe, we are targeting several destinations in particular - southern countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, or Belgium - but why not, in time, go elsewhere in Europe, or even further afield? We have real ambitions for development in Africa thanks to the support of our shareholder, the Duval group, which has a very large network in several countries. Negotiations have already begun, and a number of projects have been signed. Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon are among our target destinations. In all these countries, we will be approaching our product in a different way, with a larger surface area for both flats and communal areas, so that we can offer a wider range of bars and restaurants.
So Odalys wants to position itself as a major player in the aparthotel market?
J. G. - Absolutely. We're looking at everything that could enable us to accelerate our developmentWe have a strong presence in all segments of the market, whether through organic or external growth, through management mandates or franchising. While some players are present in certain market segments, nobody covers the whole market like us: holidays, students, aparthotels and senior citizens. We have real expertise in serviced residences.
