Half of the overnight stays were already lost at the end of September. The testimony of Susan Sax, head of two hotels.
—
The Regina hotel on rue Grand-Saint-Jean, like all Lausanne hotels, is experiencing a black end of the year 2020 following the cancellation of cultural events and Bô Noël.
Lausanne, December 5, 2020
JmC/24heures
The cancellation of Bô Noël – after those of the cultural events – was too much of a problem in December for the Lausanne hotel industry. To date, the hotel garni Regina – three-star with 35 rooms located in the heart of the city – has only one reservation for the end of the year, on New Year’s Eve. Susan Sax, its new director and owner since February and whose family also owns 46a (aparthotel-restaurant), near the Théâtre de Vidy, has therefore finally decided to close the two establishments from December 23 to January 4. A lowering of the curtain in bitterness for this fighter who always wants to see the glass half full but who is powerless in the face of the pandemic which is causing a great void.
2020 is a dark year for hoteliers in the Lausanne metropolitan area, who were already losing 53% of overnight stays after nine months – January to September – compared to 2019 (according to figures from the Vaud Canton Tourist Office). It was before the second wave of Covid-19! The Montreux Riviera region did little better (–49%) while in the Vaudois Alps the fall was less dizzying: about a third. The sharp upturn in overnight stays recorded since April fizzled out in August with the new travel restriction measures. More than half of visitors to the capital this year were Swiss, almost 15% French.
In the fog
Normally, during the festive period – Christmas and Easter – the Regina enjoys leisure tourism while the rest of the year it welcomes business or conference clients, organized in particular by EPFL or CHUV. . On weekends, it gives way to lovers of the Lausanne nightlife scene and its clubs. The Vidy aparthotels, close to several multinationals and IMD, also welcome business clients and families during the holidays, attracted by the lake. The 34-year-old hotelier is worried about the survival of her business. If for the second establishment, built and opened with his father in 2013, reserves were able to be established, this is not the case with the hotel on Rue Grand-St-Jean, bought from the Bagnoud family who owned it. since 1957.
Susan Sax is in the midst of a cloud over how business will develop over the next few months as January approaches and sees a large chunk of the bills fall. His company took out the Confederation’s Covid loan last spring. For now, she hasn’t touched it yet, but time is running out. The Regina occupancy rate this year is 15% to 20% while normally it is between 75% and 80% and the establishment is profitable above 65%. For Hotel 46a (8 employees), which includes 27 accommodation units, a restaurant and a fitness center, the occupancy rate in 2020 is approaching 50% because it did not close during the semi-confinement period. All costs had to be cut, explains the director, also president of Gastro Lausanne. It is however viable from 50% -55%.
The next decisive months
The fact remains that she does not go to great lengths to convey the gravity of the situation: “We are just surviving Vidy because we have more experience. But in 2021 this risks toppling to the other side if there is not a return to a certain normality: we will not go beyond one semester. At Regina, I’m waiting for January. ”
While thinking about it, the young entrepreneur does not seem to bring herself to let go of this hotel so quickly, which occupies five other people. Even if the situation became so critical that it would be necessary to make an arrangement with the bank, she said to herself that her horizon was far enough to find solutions. While this was not planned for now, she has already taken advantage of this period when the Regina is deserted to modernize the ground floor and the breakfast room. The establishment therefore remained closed from March 15 to June 15.