These Bretons are the new kings of the hotel industry in Paris

Paris and its Aveyron restaurateurs. Paris and its Breton hoteliers! It’s relatively unknown, but a considerable portion of the 1,700 hotels in the capital depend on Armorican capital. The Ekta and the Galileo, near the Champs-Élysées, the Whistler, Gare du Nord, the Albe Bastille, the Mercure, boulevard Raspail, the Parister, a stone’s throw from the Folies Bergère… There are number of hotels belonging to Breton entrepreneurs in several dozen. A gold rush (eiller) for owners with very different profiles.

In this large Parisian hotel market, there are first of all companies for which this is the main activity, such as the Finistère group Océania Hotels, present at Porte de Versailles and in the 17th arrondissement. Or the Odalys apartment hotels, from the group with Rennes roots Duval. Not to mention the unmissable Brestois B&B whose hotels follow the curves of the Paris ring road, while the Costa Rican Brit Hotel (Loudéac, Christophe Madore) has some rarer places to stay in Île-de-France.

Franchise Champions

Networks that coexist with franchisees of the Accor juggernaut. In this area, Rennais Didier Ferré, whose professional fortune is estimated by Challenges magazine at 1 billion, is a champion in all categories with around a hundred hotels, including around ten in Paris. Like the Mercure Paris Montparnasse TGV (formerly Concorde) and its 352 rooms, purchased in 2011, for almost €100 million. We can also cite Jacques Gad and his sister Françoise Roblin, founders of Cofigad, whose hotel group is valued, again according to Challenges, at more than €520 million.

And then, alongside, we find a host of more modest entities, like the Rennais Vicartem (Céline and Sébastien Meslin) with the Solly Hôtel Paris, at the gates of the Marais; the son of Louis Le Duff, Vincent; or Olivier Bordais, former manager of the Leclerc center in Landerneau (29), founder of La Chocolaterie and buyer of the Finistère ice cream parlor Jampi. He is the owner of the Hôtel Louis II, near Odéon. Born in Plouguenast (22), the former agricultural worker Jean Goubin, having made his fortune in hatchery, also has a few establishments. Even if, at 85, he is in the process of giving up a large part of it.

There are always hotels for sale in Paris but there is more demand than supply.

Very heavy investments

Rennais Christian Roulleau, founder of the business services group Samsic, launched a few years ago with his family office For-BZH. In addition to the Parister, he owns the Bloom House Paris, near the North and East stations. Also included in this list is Jo Le Mer (Sermeta, in Morlaix, 29) and its six Parisian hotels (Elysées Flaubert, Volnay, etc.). Still from the Breton capital, Daniel Jeulin and his children, Céline and Arnaud, are specialists in real estate and office development. But they own a few hotels. “We became interested in Paris a bit by chance,” explains Céline Jeulin. “We had this long-term objective of investing both for the heritage side and for the activity within our group. » The fact remains that these are very heavy investments, amounting to millions of euros. “So, we have private partners at our side. »

A business in Paris is worth between four and six times its turnover. The walls are worth between 25 and 30 years of rent. “There are always hotels for sale in Paris but there is more demand than supply,” notes Lionel Rolland, head of twelve establishments with GHP. “Prices are supported. » Especially since the trend is towards moving upmarket. Old family 2 stars are becoming rare. The Covid period has also changed the landscape. Many hoteliers got fed up and wanted to sell. Real opportunities in the eyes of Breton business leaders who wanted to place the proceeds from the sale of their company in a profitable sector, well helped by advantageous taxation, by entrusting management to third parties. Which challenges historical groups.

“More competition”

“It’s not necessarily simple because it gives us more competition,” confides Gurvan Branellec, president of Océania. “It has clearly grown because taxes are expensive. It’s up to us to be better. » Even if it’s easier some years than others. “2023 was exceptional. The market, overall, is doing well but 2024 is not at the level of our expectations, particularly with regard to the Olympic Games,” underlines James Galland, general manager of Odalys City. A difficult equation that must take into account, in addition to affluence, skyrocketing land prices and construction costs that are complicated to balance for developers.