After a moderate start to 2023, Luxembourg’s hotel industry kickstarted business again over the Easter weekend. After two pandemic years, the sector is now looking ahead with optimism. Our colleagues from RTL spoke to two family-run hotels about their upcoming challenges and aspirations.
The northern town of Clervaux remains a popular destination for outdoor tourism, even if the beginning of the year was rather quiet. Over the Easter weekend, the hotel managed by family Gindt is finally fully booked.
Only inflation slightly dampens the mood as there are three wage indexations that need to be covered. Third generation hotelier Jean-Claude Gindt admits that customers will have to carry some of the additional costs.
As plane tickets are rather costly at the moment, family Gindt hopes to attract tourists from the greater region. Ten out of the 50 rooms of the hotel are currently occupied by Luxembourg residents.
Thus far, it still looks as though the guest numbers from 2019 will not be achieved this season.
Family Goeres on the other hand expect a record-breaking season for their Luxembourg City based operation in 2023. According to Marcel Goeres, the family manages 230 rooms spread across four different hotels. In general, the capital has the country’s greatest concentration of hotels with an estimated 2,400 rooms on offer.
90% of their rooms are booked over the Easter weekend, says Marcel Goeres. “January and February were not good, but March and April have been normal and with the reservations that we already have for June and July, we expect to attain 2019 levels. That is our goal”, noted Goeres.
When it comes to inflation, family Goeres say that they have not felt any significant repercussions thus far. They also expressed hopes that if energy costs were to drastically increase, the government will once again offer support as was the case during the pandemic, which they say worked well at the time.
Both the Gindts and the Goeres remain convinced that family-run hotels have a future despite competition from international businesses.
