Lyon Hospitality Market 2026: Real Growth, Growing Segmentation, and AI as the New Operational Backbone

The 12th edition of La Matinale de l’Hôtellerie, held in Lyon on June 23, 2026 and organized by EXTENDAM, Bpifrance and Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes, brought together more than 100 industry professionals around three key sessions: a review of 2025 performance, the impact of artificial intelligence on hospitality, and a roundtable on the future of the Lyon hotel market.

National Growth Remains Real, But Increasingly Segmented

Presented by Olivier Petit, Partner at In Extenso Tourisme, Culture & Hôtellerie, the 2025 figures confirm a +2% increase in national accommodation revenue. This overall performance, however, masks contrasting realities: upscale properties and leisure destinations are driving the market, while several regional metropolitan areas are declining.

National indicators for 2025 confirm this trend:

• Occupancy rate: 64% (+1%)
• Average daily rate: €133 (+1%)
• RevPAR: €85 excl. tax (+2%)

The upscale/luxury segment remains the primary growth driver, posting a RevPAR of €247 (+5%), fueled by a 3% increase in average rate (€369).

Lyon Focus: A Market in Balance

Without a major catalyst event in 2025, Lyon closed the year with a slight decline (RevPAR -1%). The city’s hotel stock now totals 245 hotels and 17,845 rooms (+2% year-on-year), complemented by 38 tourist residences. Three properties opened in 2025: Oceania Lyon (72 rooms), Hampton Lyon Airport (120 rooms), and Campanile Prime Smart Chaponost (75 rooms). In early 2026, the absence of the SIRHA trade show weighed on local performance, underscoring how much major professional events shape the Lyon market’s momentum.

Artificial Intelligence: The Hospitality Sector’s New Operational Backbone

Sébastien Félix, founder of Influence Society, presented an overview of AI adoption in hospitality. According to a Canary Technologies study of 404 hotel decision-makers across North America, EMEA, and APAC, 71% already consider AI’s impact significant or transformative, and 85% plan to allocate at least 5% of their IT budget to it starting in 2026.

Concrete use cases are emerging across every hotel department:

• Front office & reception: 24/7 multilingual chatbots, cutting inbound calls by 30%
• F&B & kitchens: sales forecasting at ~85% accuracy and food waste reduced by up to 30%
• Back office & HR: administrative automation and interactive onboarding
• Sales & marketing: reputation management and optimization for generative AI visibility (GEO), aiming to be recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity

As Sébastien Félix summarized: the challenge is no longer testing AI, but integrating it as a core operational foundation — with the main risk being a widening gap between structured groups and small and mid-sized businesses left behind.

The Future of Lyon’s Hotel Market, According to Its Entrepreneurs

The roundtable brought together Sabine Dall’Ava (SGBO), Philippe Dalaudière (DALOFI), Christophe Ribeiro (SOHOMA), and Éléonore Cloitre (Bpifrance) to discuss a Lyon market in full transformation, driven by acquisitions and expansion projects.

Several key takeaways emerged from the discussion:

• Owning both the property and the business provides genuine strategic freedom and autonomy in development decisions
• Support from financial partners plays a decisive role throughout a project’s lifecycle
• Hotel performance depends as much on EBITDA as on location quality and partner support
• International brands remain a major asset: commercial visibility, guest loyalty, and distribution power

Two emerging trends are shaping Lyon’s future: the extension and transformation of existing properties, and the construction of new hotels to support market growth.

A Confirmed Industry Milestone

As Bertrand Pullès, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of EXTENDAM, noted: “2026 confirms a turning point: growth is here, but it rewards those who know how to combine location, upscaling, and operational excellence.”

This 12th edition of La Matinale de l’Hôtellerie reaffirms the event’s role as an essential observatory of regional hotel market dynamics, at the crossroads of operational performance, technological transformation, and investment strategy.