Skift Take
There may be optimism for the recovery, but Accor can’t ignore the multibillion-dollar financial drag the pandemic had on performance last year and how it reshaped the company for years to come.
A second round of travel restrictions across Europe and even parts of fast-recovering China late last year sealed Accor's grim 2020 financial fate.
The Paris-based hotel company, Europe’s largest and owner of brands like Novotel and Fairmont, reported Wednesday a roughly $2.4 billion annual loss as a result of the catastrophic impact of the global pandemic.
That figure is significantly higher than some of its competitors. London-based IHG reported a $153 million annual loss Tuesday. Hilton and Hyatt each posted a more than $700 million 2020 loss last week. Marriott reported a $267 million loss.
Accor leaders, while spending most of a two-hour investor call Wednesday on their optimistic outlook for the recovery, chalked up the extraordinary loss to travel restrictions and ongoing initiatives to better position the company for the future.
“This company is fighting,” Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin said to one analyst on the call. “In November, I did not expect confinement to be reinstalled in more than half of the countries [where
