This is the perverse effect of the inflationary crisis. In France, but also in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain, inflation is such that it swallows up the rise in the price of a hotel room. As a result, despite these price increases, a night costs less than before the pandemic. However, this is not the case throughout the European Union…
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Quite rightly, when we talk regarding inflation, we mainly refer to soaring energy prices, but also food prices, with packets of pasta costing more, as well as frozen meat and poultry. In a recent interview, an expert from the firm NielsenIQ revealed to us that prices had inflated by 22.01% in one year in this department alone. Unfortunately, these are not the only items of expenditure concerned…
While the summer season is in full swing, even the holidays are not immune to this inflationary crisis, quite the contrary. In May alone, INSEE noted that the prices of catering and accommodation services had increased by 1.6%, i.e. twice as fast as the consumer price index (0.7 %). The rise in accommodation prices, estimated at +4.7% over a single month, clearly weighed the balance. Over one year, we observe an increase of 17.4% for hotels alone.
In short, holidays are more expensive. But are they also more expensive than before the pandemic, an atypical period which completely froze all tourist activities? According to an analytical study carried out by the data firm Mabrian, the increase in hotel prices in France compared to 2019 mainly concerned five-star establishments, at +20%.
Respectively, rates for three- and four-star hotels increased by 2% and 5%. At the same time, the study looked at the calculation of inflation between July 2019 and June 2022 in order to find out if a night in a hotel now cost us more… The answer is no as far as establishments are concerned. three or four star French; inflation being estimated at 7.83%. This is also the case for all ranges of Spanish hotels, where inflation is at 13.55%. In the United Kingdom, the phenomenon is all the more reinforced by the fall in prices in four and five star hotels (by 1% and 12% respectively).
In Portugal, the rise in four-star prices remained below inflation, while three-star prices even fell. In Italy, it is the opposite effect: when inflation is taken into account, at 9.12%, it is the most luxurious establishments (four and five stars) that are less expensive compared to 2019. Conversely , the three transalpine stars show prices up 27%, far exceeding the benchmark for inflation…
Greece, the exception
However, the phenomenon does not concern all European destinations. Hotel holidays in Greece are indeed much more expensive than in the past. The price of five-star hotels has literally soared, around 134%. The increase is estimated at 82% for four stars and +31% for three stars. Between 2019 and 2022, inflation is concentrated at 6.87%, which does not allow us to prescribe the Hellenic country as the right plan for this summer of 2022.
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