Accor has provided an update on its current hotel operations, alongside its results for the first half of 2020.
The group said that 81 per cent of its hotels have reopened (as of August 3), and “business is gradually ramping up again”.
Accor also highlighted the addition of 12,000 rooms to its portfolio, including new Ibis Budget and Mercure properties in Sheffield and Bournemouth.
Last week the group launched a new Hotel Office concept allowing daytime use of its rooms for work, with the service initially available at 250 hotels in the UK and a further 70 across Europe.
Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin described the first half of 2020 as “violent, sudden, tough, brutal, global, and there’s nothing much we can do about it”.
Revenues dropped around 50 per cent compared with the same period in 2019, with RevPAR falling by around 60 per cent, and the group recorded a negative net income of €1.5 billion.
Bazin also said that its properties were adapting to serving a new customer base, “probably more leisure, more domestic, more intraregional, less business travellers”.
“The shock that our industry is experiencing is both violent and unprecedented,” said Bazin. “Against this backdrop, we have managed to limit the impact of the crisis: on our performance by taking immediate steps to protect our resources and, thanks to the Group recent years transformation and our sound financial structure; on our employees by implementing concrete and immediate support measures.
“The peak of the crisis is undoubtedly behind us, but the recovery will be gradual. Having taken these emergency steps, we must now finish the job from an asset-light model to a full asset-light company. Beyond Covid-19, this is essential. Accor must become simpler, leaner, more agile and even closer to the field.
“These initiatives will enable us to extend our leadership, make our decision process more efficient and boost our recovery. They will be implemented with transparency and candor and, in a spirit true to our values of solidarity and commitment.”
