Skift Power Rankings: Sébastien Bazin

Power is not just about who holds the top job but who shapes the landscape, drives innovation, and sets the agenda for what comes next. With that in mind, we proudly present Skift’s Power Rankings — our list of the most powerful leaders in travel.

In an industry often criticized for sluggishness, Sébastien Bazin is known for moving fast. Bazin spent much of his early career as a financier at investment banks and private equity firms rather than rising through the ranks of a hotel company.

A brief role in buying and selling luxury hotel assets led Bazin to become CEO of Accor in 2013. Armed with spreadsheets, he stormed the world’s sixth-largest hotel group.

“Get light,” Bazin decreed, and so began a great divestiture. He put the company’s hotel assets in a unit spun out as AccorInvest. The hotel management company that remained, Accor, was leaner. But Bazin was just getting started.

Next came the shopping-spree era Bazin calls “get broad.” Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel — iconic luxury and premium brands came into Accor’s expanding orbit. 

After the pandemic, Bazin led Accor into becoming an inventive player in “lifestyle.” His goal was to persuade hotel owners to stop seeing food-and-beverage service as a necessary evil and instead as a central way to win guests’ hearts. In 2021, he pushed for a joint venture with Ennismore, a collection of founder-led lifestyle brands that believe well-crafted meals and drinks and sophisticated decor are essential to hospitality.

Next, Bazin commanded Accor to “get fit.” He launched a reorganization to boost the group’s metabolism. In 2023, he essentially split the group, with its premium, midscale, and economy brands in one division and luxury and lifestyle brands in another. The goal was to speed up decision-making.

Bazin isn’t just a calculating businessman. He fervently believes in Accor’s mission to help train and employ people in emerging economies. For Bazin, it’s a moral imperative. This mix of financial acumen and heart gives him a lot of “soft power” as a voice for industry change. 

“In my prior life, when I was in investment banking and private equity, we’d be boxing against one another,” he said. “That’s not the case in hospitality, where generosity, kindness, and caring for others are part of the DNA.”

Sebastien Bazin at Skift Forum Europe