Christmas is coming quickly but Strasbourg will not necessarily give gifts to the wave of visitors who will flood its Christmas market. So you might as well say it right away to kill the suspense, unless you pay the price, and even that is not won, finding an available room in the hypercenter of the Alsatian capital is already proving a difficult mission.
“The reservation rate is good, we should return to the occupancy rate which was that before Covid-19,” says Véronique Siegel, president of the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (Umih) of Bas-Rhin. We feel that there is a desire to come. We are expecting a good season. » A “desire to come” certainly but how to stay? In the Big Island, where the majority of the 300 Christmas chalets are located, the occupancy rate already oscillates between 95% and 99% depending on the days chosen, whether for a hotel, an apartment, a room indicates the site online booking Booking.
In the city center, it’s almost impossible
What is true one day is not necessarily true the next. On various online booking sites consulted by 20 minutes, it is always possible to find the rare pearl, the great price. But in the very center of Strasbourg, things get tougher. Anything rare is expensive and the last rooms are offered at exorbitant prices. “Many visitors have booked for a long time,” underlines Véronique Siegel. Some book from year to year, and generally bookings for this Christmas getaway start just after the summer, upon returning from vacation. » Dream occupancy rates for professionals which, smoothed over 12 months, make it possible to consolidate the rest of the year “when we have expenses to pay and the turnover does not allow it”, underlines the president of Umih67.
For example, to date, only a very small handful of rooms remain available for two people, within a radius of one kilometer around the cathedral, for the first weekend of November 25… with a base rate in average of 500 euros per night. And then it’s escalation as the weekends go by and the last rooms are rented. There, it’s a direct 99% occupancy rate and for a rate that rarely drops below 800 euros per night, even worse for the penultimate Christmas weekend.
Prices “facing market resistance”
Prices and availability explode before the cyclone deflates on the eve of New Year’s Eve, Saturday December 23. That night, it will once again be possible to stay in the city center provided you still pay around 300 to 400 euros for that night alone, then around 200 euros the following days. At that time, the chalets will have closed their doors and will be dismantled from December 25, a public holiday in Alsace.
High prices that the president of Umih did not necessarily notice, who rather expects an average of 400 to 500 euros per night. Prices which “in any case face resistance from the market”, she explains. “Each hotelier is free to set their prices but if customers consider it too expensive, the room will not be occupied. And we are at completely reasonable levels compared to other regions during the high season, further assures Véronique Siegel who illustrates: if you go to the Côte d’Azur between July 14 and August 5, it will be more expensive only if you go to Strasbourg in December. »
But moving away a little…
However, nothing is lost, “first of all because there are always last minute cancellations”, recalls Véronique Siegel, but also because… within a radius of five kilometers there are still opportunities. If you move away from the capital, you will still have to pay at least 300 euros per night. Less if you settle for a small studio or a room in a private home. In Krutenau for example, staying in one of the few dormitories very close to the city center, you have to count between 600 and 900 euros per night for six to eight bunk beds.
A little further, towards the Contades district, the Orangerie, the European institutions, but also, to the West in the station area, there are still accommodations around 300 to 400 euros on weekends and 200 euros during the week. But above all, there is plenty of availability in outlying districts such as Illkirch-Graffenstaden, Cronenbourg, and even further afield in the surrounding towns, provided of course that you leave your car and prefer public transport. Which is ultimately recommended because it must be remembered that on-street parking is prohibited throughout the Big Island from November 23, and that adjacent streets will be taken over…