Hotel demand and pricing trends for upcoming events in France

With large crowds set to descend on Lille, Cannes and Montpellier, hotels in these cities have a golden opportunity to boost revenue. For independent hoteliers especially, staying informed and agile is essential to capturing their fair share of this spike in demand.

This article breaks down the impact of each of these events on hotel demand, occupancy and pricing trends. Is your pricing strategy ready to get the most out of these revenue opportunities?

About our data

The demand and pricing insights provided in this article are based on analysis of Lighthouse’s extensive hospitality data. To help you understand our findings better, we’d like to provide a bit more context about the data.

• Demand: We predict demand by analyzing hotel and flight search volumes for a given destination and stay date. A surge in demand typically leads to hotel bookings and increased unavailability. “Unavailable hotels” are those already sold out, closed temporarily or enforcing minimum-stay restrictions.

• Pricing: Our hotel pricing data reflects the average advertised room rate for a standard hotel room in the city. All pricing data in this article is a snapshot taken on 30 June 2025.

• Lead time pricing: This shows how average hotel prices evolve as the stay date draws nearer, revealing key insights about booking trends and pricing strategy.

Grande Braderie de Lille – 6 to 7 September, 2025

Every September, the Grande Braderie de Lille draws international bargain hunters and vintage lovers to France for Europe’s largest flea market. In 2025, the Braderie will take place on 6 and 7 September. Over the weekend, Lille will transform into a citywide street market and celebration, stretching over 80 kilometers of stalls. Vendors include both professional merchants and private individuals selling antiques, clothes, books, art, and more. 

In 2024, the Braderie drew an estimated 2 to 3 million visitors, making it one of the most attended public events in France. Visitors included both locals and international tourists from across Europe – especially from neighboring countries. For 2025, similar or even higher attendance is expected, meaning Lille’s hotels should be prepared for extremely high demand.

Hotel demand trends around Grande Braderie de Lille

Demand already starts building in the days leading up to the event, suggesting many visitors are eager to extend their weekend away. However, the real demand surge is recorded on Friday and Saturday, 5-6 September. 

The unavailability of hotels during the event paints an even more striking picture of demand. At the time of writing, 88% of hotels are already unavailable for the night of 6 September and 57% are booked out on 5 September. We’ve found that independent hotels have even sold out completely for the 6th. This underlines the importance of setting length-of-stay restrictions when demand is this high to encourage 2-night bookings and avoid rooms going unsold.

Hotel pricing trends during Grande Braderie de Lille

Average room rates follow this demand spike. For the highest-demand nights, we see prices jump 164% and 176% respectively, if we use the preceding Friday and Saturday as a baseline:

• Friday, 5 September: €253.57 – a 164% increase compared to Friday, 29 August (€96.08)

• Saturday, 6 September: €281.22 – a 176% jump from our baseline Friday, 30 August (€101.83)

While this suggests great pricing power, the data reveals a clear gap between chain and independent hotels. Whereas independent properties are consistently priced higher than branded hotels before the event, brands quickly gain the upper hand as demand surges on 5 and 6 September. 

• Friday, 5 September: €274.90 branded, €232.23 independent – a pricing gap of €42.67

• Saturday, 6 September: €288.89 branded, €273.56 independent – a difference of €15.33

We couldn’t capture all necessary lead time data to draw accurate conclusions, as independent hotels were already fully sold out at the time of writing. This goes to show how important it is to raise prices early enough. Hoteliers need to act fast in response to heightened demand, or they risk selling out too low, too soon.

Cannes Yachting Festival – 9 to 14 September, 2025

The Cannes Yachting Festival is a prestigious event that takes place every September along the stunning French Riviera, making it a consistent highlight for the luxury marine industry. It’s a showcase of the world’s most luxurious sailing and motor yachts aimed at boat buyers, industry professionals, journalists and high-net-worth individuals. The 2025 edition will take place from 9 to 14 September and is expected to attract over 55,000 visitors from around 130 countries. 

Hotel demand trends around the Cannes Yachting Festival

Demand climbs rapidly from Tuesday, 9 September and remains very high throughout the event, until Saturday, 13 September. Peak demand is recorded on Thursday, 11 September, after which it declines slightly for the weekend.

Attendees of the festival have been actively booking their stays, as hotel unavailability already reaches high levels for peak-demand days. Tuesday 9 through Thursday 11 September seem to be the most popular days.

• 60% of hotels are unavailable on Wednesday, 10 September

• Over 54% are unavailable on Tuesday, 9 and Thursday, 11 September

Hotel pricing trends during the Cannes Yachting Festival

Average advertised prices are elevated for the duration of the event, especially for the highest-demand dates. However, independent hotels visibly lag behind, leaving pricing gaps of up to €227.42. They even adjust their rates downwards right when demand reaches its highest point. When branded hotels start to lower prices due to dwindling demand, indie prices move back up. Brands not only demonstrate more pricing power and consistency, but apply a strategy that matches the evolution of demand more accurately.

• Tuesday, 9 September: €458.08 branded, €300.76 independent

• Wednesday, 10 September: €484.79 branded, €299.33 independent

• Thursday, 11 September: €483.06 branded, €255.64 independent

• Friday, 12 September: €459.98 branded, €266.29 independent

• Saturday, 13 September: €458.08 branded, €300.76 independent

How hotel rates evolve closer to the Cannes Yachting Festival

Lead time pricing paints an even more striking picture. Independent hotels started off with strong rates at 120 days before the stay date, sitting at €462.22 on average for the three key stay dates of 9, 10 and 11 September. Not bad, right? However, just a few days later, indie prices plummet while brands’ prices remain steady. Around 90 to 85 days out, the tables turn: branded hotels start to gradually reduce prices, and indie hotels decide to increase their rates, after which they continue to fluctuate sharply before they plateau.

As the yachting festival draws nearer, chain hotels let their prices fluctuate more dynamically again, potentially because of high occupancy.

It’s clear that branded hotels adopt a more dynamic strategy with sustained pricing power. In contrast, independent hoteliers are missing out on potential revenue opportunities by slashing their prices.

What a trip ! Montpellier, 22 to 28 September, 2025

What a Trip! Festival is an annual international travel and adventure film festival held in Montpellier. The upcoming 2025 edition will run from 22 to 28 September and take place across various venues in and around the city: the Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle, Salle Rabelais, the Musée Fabre and the Château de Castries. It's a vibrant, week-long event that brings in filmmakers, adventurers, and audiences from around the world. 

The event also features concerts and an open-air “village du voyage” (travel village) that offers free access to stalls, food trucks and themed activities, attracting a broad audience. It consistently draws over 40,000 visitors, making it one of Montpellier’s most attended cultural events. Festival-goers come from both France and abroad, including filmmakers, students, travel enthusiasts, photographers, families and more.

Hotel demand trends around What a Trip! Montpellier

Demand booms from 23 September through 25 September, remaining quite high for the night of 26 September. Surprisingly, the weekend nights (Friday and Saturday) receive significantly less interest – an important insight for hoteliers to take into account.

Hotel unavailability data follows this demand curve. Surrounding dates show normal availability, indicating a tightly event-driven booking surge. At the time of writing:

• 30% of hotel rooms are booked out on Tuesday, 23 September 

• 44% of hotels are unavailable on Wednesday, 24 September

• 37% are sold out on Thursday, 25 September

• Only 18.52% are unavailable on Friday, 26 September

Demand trends suggest that visitors aren’t extending stays into the weekend, possibly planning to attend the festival for one or two days only.

Hotel pricing trends during What a Trip! Montpellier

Pricing behavior of hotels in Montpellier is notably different from Cannes and Lille. Here, independent hotels generally price quite a bit higher than their branded counterparts – before, during and after the event, with the exception of 23 September. 

The highest rates are seen on peak festival dates, mirroring the demand spike:

• Tuesday, 23 September: €169.26 branded, €172.75 independent

• Wednesday, 24 September: €157.82 branded, €198.24 independent

• Thursday, 25 September: €163.24 branded, €203.38 independent

Price jumps are modest compared to Lille and Cannes, but the impact of heightened demand is still undeniable. When we use the week after the event (normal to elevated demand) as a baseline, average prices on 23, 34 and 25 September increase about 48%, which amounts to €57 per night.

Average advertised prices indicate that indie hotels raised rates more aggressively than chain hotels. Still, the pricing gap diminishes again after 26 September as demand normalizes.

How hotel rates evolve closer to What a Trip! Montpellier

The lead time pricing data for stay dates during the festival tells us a more nuanced story that resembles our previous case studies more closely. It becomes evident that for key dates, indie prices dip under those of brands at 110 days out, while brands show more consistent pricing levels as stay dates approach. The sudden price drop by indie hotels could mean that rates were initially set too high and bookings were coming in too slowly. Subsequently, independent hotels’ prices soar closer to the event, likely due to high occupancy as a result of underpricing. In contrast, branded hotels raise rates gradually as lead time shortens.

The data strongly suggests that independents have had difficulties aligning their prices with demand. Access to accurate, real-time demand data and competitor rates is crucial for a successful pricing strategy. If decisions are based on guesswork and rough estimates, they can cause hoteliers to miss out on revenue or price themselves out of the market.

Get the most out of upcoming events near you

Events like these demonstrate how rapidly hotel demand and pricing can shift when large crowds flock to a destination. As this article has shown, keeping up with these trends is critical for success, and right now, chain hotels often have the upper hand. Independent hotels’ pricing strategies show sharp fluctuations, pointing to a more reactive rather than proactive approach. And reacting too slow means losing revenue. Chain hotels, on the other hand, show consistent pricing power.

For independent hoteliers without commercial teams, manually monitoring and responding to market changes can be challenging. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Lighthouse for Independents offers an all-in-one solution to maximize revenue while saving time. The platform acts like your personal full-time revenue manager, helping you stay one step ahead by:

• Monitoring demand, bookings and competitors around the clock

• Notifying you when major events are announced in your market

• Recommending ideal prices based on real-time and historic data

• Automatically updating rates and restrictions across all channels

• Finetuning your distribution strategy with actionable advice

With Lighthouse, you’re always ready to capitalize on events before demand peaks, never miss out on revenue and compete confidently with bigger brands.