AccorHotels CEO: It's Foolish and Irresponsible to Fight Against the Sharing Economy

Paris-based AccorHotels, the biggest Europe-based hotel operator, with more than 500,000 rooms worldwide, has been on a buying spree of late. In December 2015, the company agreed to buy the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissotel brands for $2.9 billion in stock and cash. Currently, there's chatter suggesting it is eyeing Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, too, although AccorHotels CEO Sébastien Bazin says the company has not put in a bid. But three of its most recent acquisitions and investments — Oasis Collections, Squarebreak, and Onefinestay, announced yesterday — all play in the same space: the sharing economy. And that speaks to a larger trend in the hospitality industry best summarized as "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." With its $168 million acquisition of London-based Onefinestay, AccorHotels is making its largest commitment yet to entering the sharing economy. Onefinestay rents its members' upscale homes in London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and beginning in June, Rome. "You don't know how strategic and key this acquisition [of Onefinestay] is for changing AccorHotels," Bazin told Skift. "It's all about providing guest satisfaction and Onefinestay is so unique and their team is so strong, it will bring enormous value to our company." Embracing the Sharing Economy Unlike many of his competitors and peers, Bazin thinks it's futile to try to find ways to compete against the sharing economy, and that's why, under his leadership, Accor has pursued investments in companies like Onefinestay. "It would be absolutely foolish and irresponsible to fight against any new concept, offer, or services like this, let alone fighting against the sharing economy," Bazin said. "This is where the world is leading us. All of those new services are very powerful and very well implemented and executed. You need to embrace it." Bazin said his approach to leading AccorHotels is driven by one thing  — his customers — and that's why, for the sake of his business and his employees, he's choosing to invest in sharing economy companies like Onefinestay, Oasis Collections, and Squarebreak. "A hotel company can't just be a hotel company today," he said. "We will continue to do what we do with hotels but, at the same time, Accor is smart enough to know we should be embarking on new paradigms in which we should be participating, whether as a binary investor or a full investor controlling it." That approach seems to be paying off. Last year, AccorHotels