NEW YORK — The moves Accor has made in recent years to grow its global portfolio and further organize its lifestyle brand offerings has prepared the Paris-based hotel company for accelerated expansion, particularly as the world makes collective steps toward recovery.
Chief Development Officer Agnès Roquefort told Hotel News Now that the company’s lifestyle brands in particular are “adapted to the post-COVID world, with strong [food and beverage], good vibes, just what you want after this awful pandemic.”
Roquefort said owners have a “strong appetite” for the company’s lifestyle brands. Earlier this year, Accor completed the move to group all 14 of its lifestyle brands, including Mama Shelter, 21c Museum Hotels, The Hoxton, Mondrian, Delano, SLS and others, under its Ennismore division.
For several years, the company has steadily been adding to its lifestyle offerings, and Roquefort said these brands today represent a sizable chunk of the company’s global pipeline in value.
“This year, we should open just less than 15 hotels in lifestyle brands; next year we will double that,” Roquefort said. “I don’t know if we will double it every year, but yes, the pace is accelerating.”
Growth Models
Having a variety of hotel brands to offer owners is key to diversified global growth, Roquefort said, and while much fanfare surrounds big acquisitions the company has made in recent years, homegrown brands are just as important.
“We have balance,” she said. “It’s really specific to our core to be creative and create homemade brands, but as well to accelerate our development and sometimes to take position in some countries where we want to be, like in North America, yes we will [do] some acquisitions."
In November, the company launched its latest brand, Emblems Collection, a collection brand for luxury lifestyle hotels, the first of which will be Guiyang Art Center Hotel in China’s Guizhou Province, opening December 2022.
The company also is committed to growing its franchise options for owners. While Accor will continue to prefer to manage luxury and lifestyle hotels in its upscale segments, Roquefort said 60% of the company’s development is with existing partners, often for midscale brands like Ibis and Mercure that are a good fit for franchising.
While the spotlight often shines on Accor’s high-end brands, Roquefort said its economy and midscale legacy brands like Ibis, Novotel and Mercure account for 60% of the company’s development by number of rooms. On the other hand, its high-end brands account for 60% of the company’s development in value.
“That is a good illustration of our model of development, which is clearly a hybrid model with two feet,” she said. “One is economy brands that are very well-known that have good visibility, good awareness and the profitability model is well-mastered. And the upper segments that are more aspirational that we are pushing at the same time.
North America
Heather McCrory, Accor’s CEO of North and Central America, told Hotel News Now at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in July that the company is focused on expanding its luxury and lifestyle segments in this region, a strategy Roquefort echoed.
The luxury Fairmont brand in particular “benefits from both the North American story and as well the Europe flavor with Accor,” she said.
In November, Accor and Development Ventures Group signed an agreement for the development of a Fairmont in Orlando, to be managed by Accor, set to open in 2025.
For more from HNN's interview with Agnès Roquefort, watch the video above.