French hotel firm Accor, which has approximately 5,600 hotels in operation, has agreed to sell its ownership of Accor Vacation Club to niche specialist Travel + Leisure Co. for $48.4 million, according to a news release. The deal is due to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year.
The release said the acquisition is expected to “be immediately accretive to Travel + Leisure Co. earnings upon completion.”
AVC is positioned solely in the Asia-Pacific region and comprises 24 resorts and approximately 30,000 members. Travel + Leisure's resort count will increase by 45% to 77 resorts and its membership to more than 100,000 in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hotels in Accor’s vacation club include those in its brands Grand Mercure, Mantra, Mercure, MGallery, Novotel, Peppers and The Sebel, all of which will continue their brand affiliations.
T+L plans to widen the geography of the brand, with “exclusive rights to develop new vacation ownership clubs and products utilizing the Accor Vacation Club brand across a region including Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Turkey,” the release states.
In turn, Accor will receive a percentage of vacation-ownership sales revenue as a licensing fee.
Heading up the enlarged brand is Barry Robinson, president and managing director of international operations at Travel + Leisure, who will oversee the firm from its headquarters in Singapore.
“We are a partner of choice for leading hospitality brands because we are able to individually curate their brands and maintain their unique offerings to travelers,” he said.
Travel + Leisure has similar vacation-club affiliations with partners including Margaritaville Resorts & Hotels, Sports Illustrated Resorts and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
T+L acquired Wyndham Destinations in 2021 for $100 million. Wyndham Destinations was spun off from Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in 2018.
Duncan O’Rourke, Accor’s CEO of premium, midscale and economy for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Asia-Pacific, said the “transaction is aligned with our asset-light strategy and allows us to monetize our existing business and enhance recurring fee streams, supporting the continued growth of our franchised hotel network across Asia Pacific.”