Articles tagged “accor”

While some of the deals done by AccorHotels have raised eyebrows, this one seems like a good strategic fit. The Orient Express brand is known the world over and will give AccorHotels a greater presence in the luxury space.

Europe’s largest hotelier continues to pursue CEO Sébastien Bazin's goal of diversification. Valued at about $117 million, Gekko Group will help AccorHotels grow its business-to-business services.

So much for taking a summer vacation. This year, the hotel industry was busy making major moves and investments, as well as launching new brands, properties, and policies.

InterContinental's new CEO Keith Barr seems happy — for now — to carry on with the work done by his predecessor. While rivals have explored other areas, IHG keeps doing the same thing, although it is developing a new midscale brand. Only time will tell which strategy is right.

We like to think of this as Hyatt's payback for AccorHotels stealing away onefinestay last year.

The candid comments of the Accor CFO show just how difficult it is for hotel companies to compete with the big online travel agencies. You can't do it half-heartedly and AccorHotels will have to decide how much effort it is willing to put in to the initiative.

It's clear that AccorHotels needed to do something to turn Onefinestay around and by combining it with its other rental businesses it will at least be able to improve its reach. But at the same time one of the draws was the "handpicked" nature of the properties, which will surely be lost by increased scale.

Onefinestay is a nice idea but like so many other nice ideas it isn’t a profitable one, at least not yet. AccorHotels has a lot of work to do to turn the business around and justify the millions of dollars it has already spent.

Hotel CEOs realize that if tourism to the U.S. drops, it could have a significant adverse impact not only on their own businesses but the industry, and the economy, as a whole.

Everyone in hospitality, it seems, is focusing on more wellness offerings, whether through mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, or enhanced programming — but what do the wellness vets think? Does this trend have staying power or is it just a fad?