Skift Take
AccorHotels has made quite a shift upmarket in the last couple of years and it's unlikely the acquisition of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will be the end of its dealmaking exploits.
Luxury Travel News
The Skift New Luxury column is our weekly column focused on the business of selling luxury travel, the people and companies creating and selling experiences, emerging trends, and the changing consumer habits around the sector.
Before buying the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel brands in 2016, AccorHotels wasn’t really known as a high-end operator.
Granted, it had the likes of Sofitel and Pullman but it was lacking in options. The $2.7 billion deal changed all this, making Accor a much bigger player in the luxury market.
The pending acquisition of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, announced Monday, helps move the needle even further. Mövenpick gives AccorHotels a deeper footprint in the upper upscale space.
Is it possible that Accor might want to add more luxury brands to its portfolio in the future? Maybe. Saudi conglomerate Kingdom Holding Co. owns 33.3 percent of Mövenpick and 6 percent of Accor. It also has a sizable stake in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Four Seasons would certainly cost a lot more to buy than the $567 million Accor paid for Mövenpick but with its capacity for dealmaking we probably shouldn’t rule anything out. On the other hand, even Accor has to answer to shareholders when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @paddywhyte.
— Patrick Whyte, Europe Editor
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Skift Europe Editor Patrick Whyte [[email protected]] curates the New Luxury newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday.
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Tags: accor, luxury, mövenpick
Photo credit: Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea, Jordan. AccorHotels is buying the brand. Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts