France

A new B&B hotel has just opened in Nice, right in the heart of the Arenas business district and just a seven-minute tram ride from the airport. While this is an important opening, as it is the first hotel in the Côte d'Azur to be part of the B&B budget chain, it also demonstrates the dynamism of the brand....

Benjamin Smith sees Transavia as a key element in a strategy designed to improve the group's short-haul business. This ramp-up of the low-cost subsidiary is being tested first on the domestic French market. During his speech, Benjamin Smith explained that Transavia would enable the Air France-KLM group to turn around a deficit situation on routes...

After Marne-la-Vallée next year, Eklo will continue its expansion in the Paris region with a business-oriented hotel expected in 2022 near Paris CDG airport and Villepinte. This budget brand, launched in 2014 by Emmanuel Petit - and backed by the two founders of the Accor group, Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson -,...

In line with the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday of the possibility of travelling over the festive period, rail and airlines are increasing their offer until the beginning of January. The SNCF's long-distance train services will be increased in stages, from the current 30 % to...

In France, anything is possible! "says Thomas Faizant, co-founder of Prochaine Escale. The country is full of secret places, with a wide variety of landscapes and an incredible wealth of culture... In just a few hours, you can go from mountain peaks to sandy beaches, from hectic city life to the peace and quiet of the countryside". Playing on...

Is business at your coworking spaces affected by the new confinement? Alice Tortech - It's obviously much less than it would normally be. But unlike the first lockdown, when there was zero activity, some of our residents are actually present at our coworking sites. In addition to the tenants of private offices,...

When will business events pick up again? What are the most dynamic sectors in these circumstances? Is France still as attractive a destination as ever? A study carried out by Atout France and EY among agencies, congress organising associations and major companies in Germany, the UK and Belgium,...

As the pandemic recedes, so do the number of hotel closures. The resurgence of the pandemic, and government measures to deal with it, are leading many hoteliers to put their businesses on hold once again. This second wave of closures is admittedly less severe than in the spring, when a very large proportion of the French hotel industry closed down,...

We'll have to wait until 2025 to discover this new luxury hotel being planned on the Côte d'Azur. But already, its developer, the Fondimmo property group, has announced its intention to make it nothing less than a national and international benchmark. Its project has just won the competition launched by the SNCF to build a new luxury...

Text Serge Barret / Photos Alain Parinet First there's the Mediterranean. Blue, as it should be; with, most of the time, a sky to match, whether very early or very late in the season. As a result, in Corsica there are long white sandy beaches as well as secluded coves,...

Will the reconfinement have a significant impact on the hotel industry, or will it be limited in the end, given that passenger numbers are already at their lowest? Olivier Petit - The reconfinement, and above all the restrictions on inter-regional and international travel, particularly outside the Schengen area, will structurally limit the flow of travellers, and therefore the need for accommodation. This will not...

On Wednesday evening, the French President made official the reconfinement measure, which has been in force in France since the evening of 29 October and will remain in force until at least 1 December. A progress review will take place in a fortnight' time to reassess the situation. Since Friday, the attestation has been without return to limit restricted travel to...

The curfew imposed in nine French cities is shedding new light on the hotel concept of staycation. This is particularly the case in Paris, where luxury establishments, particularly affected by the absence of international travellers, are turning to local customers to invite them to enjoy their evenings out...

Like many hoteliers, are you seeing a timid recovery in business for Balladins hotels? Fabrice Beyer - Indeed. After a summer in which, with the exception of the Paris region, occupancy figures were good, September was a mixed bag. The fine weather sustained demand from leisure customers, but the...

As expected, on Wednesday evening Emmanuel Macron announced a curfew from 9pm to 6am in nine major cities to curb the circulation of the virus and deal with the health situation. The Ile-de-France, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Aix-Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse and Rouen are affected by these new measures and the ban on going out at night...

Report and photos by Florian Guillemin. Something is afoot in the Hauts-de-France region. Lille has been named World Design Capital 2020, following in the footsteps of destinations such as Seoul and Mexico City, and can no longer hide from its status. Even if, as Covid is obliged to do, the city had to wait until early September to launch the festivities. More than a city,...

French business travellers accustomed to relying on Citymapper for their urban journeys in Paris, Seoul or Montreal will now be able to do the same for their everyday journeys. The mobile application has just added six destinations to its French catalogue, which until now has been limited to Paris and Lyon - Monaco has also been included for just over a year now....

Is Le Puy du Fou a new player in major professional events? Certainly not, since the venue already hosts almost 200 events a year. "We intend to double this figure in the future," says Thomas Guitet, director of Puy du Fou Congrès. Because, with the opening of a real convention centre, the theme park launched in 1978 by...

It's a timid arrival for Vueling on French domestic routes, but it's a symbolic one. IAG's low-cost - or hybrid, depending on your sensibilities - subsidiary has just announced the launch of three domestic routes from Orly. Brest, Montpellier and Marseille will each have two flights a week, on Fridays and Sundays....