Prosper Wanner: Some elements of the Northern Hotel balance sheet in 2014

The annual ordinary general meeting of the members of the Coopérative de habitants Hotel du Nord created in 2010 was held in April, the opportunity to share again some data and developments of the cooperative process. The year 2014 was for hotel of the North an important year with the end of the yearly European Capital of culture and the conclusion of support for the Social and solidarity Economy (region, Department, foundation of France and MACIF). Would the cooperative's offer of hospitality always interésser beyond 2013? Was the co-operative going to find an economic equilibrium? Did the members wish to continue the cooperative venture? A year later, the Co-operative has about sixty members, the number of nights increased by 30% (1600 in 2014 for a stable number of 40 rooms), the sale of rides doubled (€10,000 over the year) and Hotel du Nord sold its first stay Training for a team from Pilsen 2015, the European Capital of Culture of the Czech Republic.  2/3 passengers have come to stay in the hotel rooms of the north for local reasons (professional, family, health) with a predominance for professional motive. This year North Hotel strengthens its offer of hospitality around the North Hospital (5 places of hospitality opened this week), its links with companies (Cape North undertake, Arnavant), offers long-term stays (trainees, people in Training, etc.) and a large part of the site is now available in English language. The last third of the passengers comes for his vacation. The word-of-mouth and the Northern Hotel brand remain the co-operative's main communication vehicles. The presence in the media is always important (about 20 in 2014) as on the Tourist portals (guide of the Backpacker, tourist Office, guide GR2013, etc). Hotel du Nord has obtained in 2014 the accreditation "Social and Solidarity Enterprise" and the "Grand Prix of good news of the Territories" on more than 100 projects proposed at the national level (see details). The establishment of the travel agency activity following the green light given at the end of 2013 by the Ministry of the Social and solidarity Economy (see the agency) was possible thanks to the obtaining of European funding (ESF Micro project). In general, in 2014 the resources of the cooperative were reduced by 30% (85,000 euros in 2014), the year 2013 was boosted by benefits realized for MP2013 (programme walks, GR2013) and the Council of Europe (Forum de Marseille). To compensate for this decline, the co-operative had to dismiss the two salaried posts for economic reasons and reorganize themselves around missions often volunteered by the members. This reorganization is now almost finalized with an elected manager, a supervisory board composed of elected members and a dozen members involved in specific missions. The Regional Council has confirmed its support in 2015 to the development of the cooperative and the town Hall of 15 and 16me arrondissement of Marseille continues its support (provision of Office and meeting room). The cooperative continues to strengthen its economic autonomy by increasing its own funds thanks to the capital invested by its members and its results put in cooperative reserve (16,000 euros of own funds fin 2014). Today the co-operative has 59 members including 1/3 of legal persons (soaps, associations, artistic residences, publishing house, media). The members decided in 2015 to re-program some 40 heritage walks to discover Marseille by its north and promote the cooperative (see the programme carried out entirely by volunteering) and to continue the development of The offer of places of hospitality with already fifty rooms in a house, apartment, Bastide, boat or caravan spread over the "heart" of the metropolis, from the old Port to Ensues, gives it back by way of Bouc-Bel-Air. The first "tours" offered by the Co-op's hosts arrive online (see details). The sale of nights, products, works and walks represents additional income for the Co-op's hosts who pay 10% to the Co-op on these sales. The North Hotel remains the first cooperative of inhabitants in Europe to apply the European principles laid down by the Faro Convention. This Convention recognizes that everyone has the right to be involved in the cultural heritage of their choice as an aspect of the right to freely take part in cultural life, a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the nations United Nations (1948). During this month of April 2015, the city of Pilsen launched its application Hideen city to discover "the hidden city" through a dozen heritage walks made by the inhabitants (see the project), the second edition of "Arsenal Open" in Venice has Meeting more than 20,000 participants (Faro is the framework of action) and in Oran, the mega hike comes again to mobilize thousands of oranis around their heritages. The Council of Europe broadcasts in Europe "the cooperative of inhabitants" as a free application of Faro (see PDF) and the inhabitants of Pilsen think about it for the year 2016. This year, a delegation from the city of Caen came to stay at the school of hosts and in June it will be the cities of Châtellerault and Poitiers that will be welcomed. A competition at Northern Hotel has emerged in less than two years with the new C2C (consumer-to-consumer) platforms performing on the reception of the inhabitant as Air BnB or proposing visits with the inhabitants. The question arose: Why not completely switch North Hotel activity on these high-performance platforms? The year 2014 was rich in debates on this subject with participatory days and general meetings. A quick study of their functioning has shown that these start-ups have a strategy of conquering dominant position on their sector by being heavily capitalized to be able to cover losses, by practicing tax optimization through social headquarters Based in Ireland and whose hospitality discourse is essentially a marketing strategy. The question of the collective ownership of the brand as of the Internet platform, its governance in the general interest in relation to the public institution and the inseparableness of the heritage approach with that economic and social have strengthened the Willingness of members to continue the cooperative adventure by broadening it to other heritage communities and Europe and the Mediterranean and investing in tools as efficient as those existing in C2C. At the end of 2014, a round table with some 20 public and private partners from 4 different regions culminated in a collaboration on the launching of a national platform H2H: Human to Human, host to host, inhabitant-to put the question of Hospitality and work at the heart of the debate. 2014 was a dense year in questioning and repositioning for the cooperative and 2015 should be the beginning of a new cycle of development and consolidation. Prosper Wanner, manager and shareholder.  

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