Accor CEO Defends Hotel Giant's Latest Reorg
Photo Credit: Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin at Skift Global Forum in New York in 2022. Source: Skift. Skift
Skift Take
Many hotels needed refurbishment after the pandemic chaos, and Accor needed a refurb of its own. CEO Sébastien Bazin argues that his latest reorganization gives Accor the capability to become the world leader in luxury while preparing for a hybrid hospitality future.
Accor put in place the pieces for a corporate re-organization this month. But this re-org is one of a few over the roughly decade-long reign of Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO. The latest changes have prompted some eye-rolling from analysts at investment banks and executives at competitor hotel giants.
Bazin defended the changes as necessary at the $7 billion Paris-based hotel conglomerate to stay abreast of an evolving market during an interview with Skift on Monday at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles.
"So the financial analysts don't like it because they have to change their models," Bazin said. "My competitors are barking about it because they see it coming and I'm not sure they like it that much. But to me it's super-clear. We're getting focused in the right way."
Bazin, group deputy CEO Jean-Jacques Morin, and their team saw that Accor's lifestyle and luxury brands were a critical growth area for the company even though they currently represent a minority of the total rooms under Accor's umbrella. They decided around July to make sure that the execution of the business strategy for Accor's lifestyle and luxury brands was clear, fast-tracked, and coordinated.
"You can't expect a boss in Europe to cover 46 brands scattered worldwide with the same level of expertise," Bazin said. "When you have Qataris owning a billion-dollar asset like a Raffles in Paris and other owners having an [economy brand like] Ibis, allocating the same time for each of them is ridiculous."
In October, Accor's management began to split the company into two groups.
One group focuses on "luxury and lifestyle," including the brands Raffles and Orient Express; Fairmont; Sofitel; the soft brand collections MGallery, Emblems, and Handwrit
