Hotels in Nantes and western France: cities and coastline

Western France brings together two hotel markets with almost nothing in common except geography. On one side, Nantes and Rennes, two cities where weekdays drive the business. On the other, a coastline running from the Vendée to the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, where summer makes the year. A buyer does not read these two hotels in the same way. A seller should not prepare them in the same way either.

Nantes and Rennes: weekday demand

Nantes

Nantes combines a varied business clientele with urban tourism that has come into its own. Industry along the Loire estuary, from the city to Saint-Nazaire and its shipyards, aerospace, services and higher education fill the week. The Cité des Congrès in the city centre and the Beaujoire exhibition centre host congresses and trade fairs.

For leisure, the Château des Ducs de Bretagne, the Machines de l’Île and the summer art trail of Le Voyage à Nantes have changed how the city is seen. La Folle Journée, a classical music festival held in January, fills hotels at what is normally a quiet time. Nantes-Atlantique airport and the high-speed line to Paris complete the picture.

Rennes

Rennes owes a great deal to the Brittany-Pays de la Loire high-speed line, which brought it much closer to Paris. The city draws business travel linked to regional government, the university, hospitals, the digital sector and defence. The congress centre in the Couvent des Jacobins, a historic building in the centre, has strengthened its meetings offer. Weekends and summer are quieter than weekdays.

What the two cities share

In both cities, demand is concentrated from Monday to Thursday, with a dip in August and during school holidays. The stock mixes branded hotels around stations and business parks with independent hotels in the old centres. Mid-sized cities such as Angers, Le Mans, Brest, Vannes or Laval show a smaller version of the same profile, each with its own events, the Le Mans 24 Hours being the best known.

The coast: a year played out in a few months

The Atlantic and Breton coast runs on a different economy. La Baule, Pornic, Les Sables-d’Olonne, Quiberon, Carnac, the Gulf of Morbihan, Saint-Malo, Dinard: each resort has its own clientele, often loyal, often families, many from the Paris region and the west. Summer accounts for most of the activity. The shoulder seasons depend on long weekends, seminars and, for some hotels, thalassotherapy.

Major sailing events, such as ocean race starts from Saint-Malo or Les Sables-d’Olonne, create one-off peaks. The Puy du Fou in the Vendée and Mont-Saint-Michel on the edge of Brittany pull demand well away from the cities.

For a seaside hotel, the year’s result depends on a small number of weeks. A wet summer, a closed road or an understaffed July shows up directly in EBE, the French measure of EBITDA. This is why buyers ask for several years of accounts, and often for monthly figures.

How a buyer reads each type of hotel

Annual occupancy means something different in each column. A hotel that closes for several months a year shows low occupancy over twelve months and may still trade well while open. The presentation should show this month by month rather than as an average.

Coastal planning law, shoreline retreat and old buildings

On the coast, the loi Littoral governs development in principle: limited extension of buildings, restrictions in the shoreline strip outside built-up areas, protection of outstanding natural sites. A plan for an extension, a pool or extra rooms can run into it. Any potential shown in a sale file should therefore be checked with the municipality and a planning adviser before it is presented.

Some municipalities are also exposed to shoreline retreat. Specific mapping and buyer information obligations apply there. The notaire checks the position at the time of the transaction.

Coastal buildings age quickly: windows, roofs, façades and services suffer from salt and wind. Buyers will cost the works. The guide CAPEX, compliance and star rating explains how they weigh on value.

In the cities, the old centres of Nantes and Rennes include many protected buildings. Any alteration is subject to local planning rules and, in some areas, to the opinion of the Architecte des Bâtiments de France.

Passing on a family asset without announcing it

Many hotels on the Breton and Vendée coast have belonged to the same family for a long time. The decision to sell often comes with retirement and no successor. The same issues come up:

• property and business are sometimes split between a family property company and an operating company, with a lease between them. That intra-family lease, often old, needs reviewing before the sale: rent, term, service charges. See commercial lease and the guide Selling a hotel business operated under a commercial lease.
• family members’ pay and work are not always reflected in the accounts at a fair level. EBE adjustments should correct this, with evidence.
• staff accommodation for seasonal workers, where it exists, is an asset buyers value. Its absence is an operating risk they will price in.
• timing: you cannot visit a beach hotel in the middle of August without drawing attention, and signing in June puts the season at risk.

In a resort with only a handful of hotels, everyone knows everyone. A local buyer told too early, an estate agent fishing for information, a supplier who talks: rumours reach staff and guests quickly. No published file, a teaser checked to make sure the hotel cannot be recognised, NDAs signed before any information is shared, visits out of season with no contact with staff: these rules are not formalities. They protect next season.

How we work

We advise the seller only, under an exclusive mandate. We read the business before the bricks, season by season, and we present the asset off-market to qualified buyers, approached one at a time. The Selling a hotel page describes our approach.