Holidays: booking your stay at the last minute, the new trend

This text is a portion of the transcript of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

They decided on Friday, August 22, to come and enjoy the great outdoors. And here they are, the next day, at a family campsite. "We first checked the weather forecast. We saw that it was going to be a great weekend, and since we don't live far away, we said to ourselves, 'Let's go,'" shares vacationer Marie Cormarie. The weather and also the discounts attract last-minute vacationers . Online, promotions sometimes pour in until the day before booking.

In a hotel, the manager is receiving more and more calls from morning to evening. "On the morning of August 15, we had two-thirds of the hotel booked and we were full in the evening," says Olivier Blanc, manager of the Hôtel Le Puits Doré. Demand is so high that the hotelier has changed its pricing policy this summer. "Last year, we implemented pre-season promotions to encourage our customers to book in advance. Customer habits have changed, and we have adapted. There is no longer a need to run these promotions, but rather to adjust our prices right up until the last minute when the customer arrives," says the professional.

A particularly marked trend this year. At the end of June, hotel searches for the first half of July exploded by more than 45% compared to last year. But waiting until the last minute remains a risky bet. Two students are looking for accommodation in Lille (Nord), 12 days before the big sale, a real challenge. Online, prices range from 340 to more than 2,000 euros. The two friends finally found one, but had to make sacrifices. "And I just saw that the bathroom was shared. You have to give up on something at some point when you leave it to the last minute. Inevitably, you have to make a sacrifice on a criterion. Otherwise, you should have done it beforehand," assure Kenza Amezza and Lilou Lanquetin, two students.

To get the right deal, the best thing is not to have a specific destination in mind.