Paris (France) (AFP) – Have a drink at the bar, enjoy the hotel swimming pool without reserving a room... More and more high-end establishments are banking on a local, urban and wealthy clientele to supplement their income during off-peak hours of the day.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 17:27

A 45-minute massage followed by a 30-minute lunch at the Bristol for 270 euros; hammam, sauna then gourmet dinner at the Maison Pavlov hotel in Bordeaux at 178 euros for two people... This type of offer is multiplying on hotel websites or specialized platforms such as Staycation or Sézame.

“Each time it was to offer a gift, an experience,” testifies Sarah Smith, a 31-year-old consultant who twice reserved access to the swimming pools of prestigious hotels in the Var.

“It’s a shared moment and it avoids a very expensive night in these hotels,” she adds, remembering having paid less than 100 euros each time for two people.

If the spa mainly served as an attractive argument for tourists, hotels are increasingly opening their infrastructures to local customers, in order to make these facilities profitable.

“The very urban hotel industry focuses on two niches: the tourist and the local,” explains to AFP Béatrice Gravier, director of the EquipHotel trade fair, which brings together hotel professionals in Paris from Monday to Thursday.

While "the movement of tourists can move very quickly" particularly due to geopolitical uncertainties, "the local clientele is a key" for hoteliers, "hence the bar which is becoming more and more central", she analyzes.

- "Splunch" -

The new generation of consumers is looking to live experiences that will create emotions, according to industry professionals.

"There's something that's a hit with us, it's called the Splunch. It's a spa plus lunch" (lunch, editor's note), explains to AFP Mathieu Ecollan, co-founder of Staycation, a contraction of "stay" and "vacation" or the fact of spending a vacation at home.

Launched in 2017, the site specializes in booking hotel rooms near you but opened daytime experiences in 2022.

“It was hoteliers who put us on the trail”, confiding: “when my nights are all booked, I still have places at the spa, typically during the day. I still have places at the restaurant at lunchtime”, relates Mathieu Ecollan.

Staycation claims 4.5 million registered users and works with 2,500 hotels in France, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Their clientele is in their thirties, urban, and has a leisure budget.

"People don't just come to consume access, they really come to experience a program. The more programs we create, the happier our customers are" and the more this allows the hotel "to bring all its spaces to life", adds Mathieu Ecollan.

Staycation, like Sézame, a competitor which launched on the market in 2023, takes 20% commission on reservations and only works with hotels ranging from 4 stars to palaces.

“We are at the intersection of several markets which are flourishing and which are only growing,” explains Jean-Baptiste Pinthon, co-founder of Sézame, to AFP, citing luxury hotels, well-being and experiential.

“It’s a boom that has been going on for several years,” he says, and which serves in particular to fill hotel restaurants, shunned by tourist customers who prefer to have lunch and dinner outside.

At the high end, with very strong competition, "hotels need to differentiate themselves and transform the establishment into a real place to live", believes Jean-Baptiste Pinthon.

According to the latest study by Rydge Conseil, the food and drink offering can represent up to 50% of the turnover of certain hotels and "no longer constitutes only a complementary service to accommodation".

“When we designed Mama Shelter, the idea was to say it’s a bar with rooms above,” Serge Trigano tells AFP.

“We wanted it to be a place to live so that people from the neighborhood could come” and “it worked beyond our expectations,” he adds, with 50% of the restaurant’s clientele (which represents 60% of turnover) coming from outside.

© 2026 AFP

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