PARIS—Accor has redefined its business model and effectively split the company into a hotel operator and a hotel owner/investor.
In an effort to achieve maximum operational performance and sustainable growth, the European company—which has more than 3,500 hotels under a number of brands such as Sofitel, Pullman and Novotel, to name a few—has created two new subsidiaries: Hotel Services and HotelInvest. Hotel Services is a hotel operator that will be fee-oriented and P&L driven, while HotelInvest is a hotel owner and investor that will be yield-oriented and balance sheet driven.
The company has shed its asset-light approach and has created a value oriented, disciplined hotel ownership strategy entailing notably the end of expansion through leases and no further disposals of owned hotels, unless they are structurally underperforming assets.
The new organization is built by geography, consistent in all markets, at lower running costs, according to the company. The brands will be grouped by segment. It will also include a new Executive Committee with 10 members, including the 5 regional heads of operations.