Accor homesharing brand Onefinestay has added 40 villas in St Tropez to its offering, going live immediately.
The announcement came as STR reported that the Côte D’Azur region had seen “a nice climb” in ADR for the month to 4 July.
STR reported that Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur recorded its highest ADR, of €243.73, on 3 July.
At Onefinestay the group said that weekly rates in the region started from $18,000. The company said that travellers were searching for “additional privacy and space, with villa rentals set to become ever more popular”.
Amanda Dyjecinski, chief brand & marketing officer, Onefinestay, said: “The South of France is home to some of the most luxurious villas, exclusive events and holiday experiences in the world, and so it was an obvious addition worth exploring for our Villa Collection.
“Before the coronavirus crisis, our team spent months searching for and vetting beautiful villas across Saint-Tropez, and I’m incredibly proud of the 40 that we’ve selected to join the portfolio as they are all incredibly unique and of the highest quality. Now as travel bans begin to lift we’re seeing a rebound in inquiries fo villa holidays, especially for the French Riviera, and we look forward to welcoming guests to our newest destination soon.”
Speaking on a webinar earlier this month looking at current trading and hopes for the summer, Grégory Pourrin, Paris Inn Group, described the domestic market in France. He said: “In Paris we are seeing different types of customers, including local guests. At first we thought this was going to be just for a few days, to experience something different, but people want to use the services, the restaurants and swimming pool. But we are seeing 40% to 60% occupancy - so it’s not so bad. In the west of France it’s full, people want to stay and we are probably going to have some of the better Julys and Augusts.
“The south of France is probably going to be the same situation, even if we have no foreigners. French people could spend more money in hotels and restaurants because they have not spent money on a flight, but people might keep their money because they don’t know what will happen in September The South of France will be good for occupancy in the summer, but may not be good for ADR.
“Paris will probably have occupancy lower than 30% and the price of the room 40% or 50% lower than last year. One of the important things will be how many hotels open for the season, how many drop rates.”
At the time of the webinar, the UK government had yet to confirm when it would lift its quarantine. Pourrin said: “We are still expecting the decision of the UK, if people decide not to leave the UK they will probably have the worst summer they have ever seen - they want to find sun, sea and it could be good news for us. But right now we don’t know. We have a lot of requests from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, but not for the UK.”
Insight: Accor hasn’t had the most glorious time with Onefinestay. Along with concierge service John Paul Accor took a $288m hit on the sharing platform in 2018 and in 2019, announced that it was cutting 30% of the properties listed on the platform.
Chairman & CEO Sébastien Bazin said that the platform needed to have availability at the properties for more than 100 days per year to make them work for its model, which sees its collect 50% of the rental while providing an array of services. Hence many had to go.
In the era of the pandemic, the customer is searching for the chance to isolate remotely and renting a whole property is at the top of customers’ holiday wish lists - and can it be pet friendly and come with a pool (according to Airbnb). Bookings have risen by 20% at Airbnb and are likely to continue while the leisure market dominates and while guests are still cautious around hotels, those with luxury villas going spare - as we all do, of course - would be best placed to give Accor a call.