Gérard Pélisson, the co-founder of Accor, is being remembered for the way he helped bring the hotel industry into a new era.
Accor, said Pélisson, who died on Monday at 91, “was an iconic pioneer who … inspired a modern approach to French hospitality at a time when it was poised for fresh ideas.”
Born in Lyon in 1932, Pélisson founded the French hotel firm in 1967. Pélisson and Paul Dubrule, who is 88, opened a Novotel in Lesquin, France, a suburb of Lille.
Today, Accor manages 5,445 hotels and 802,269 rooms around the world and has a pipeline of 1,247 hotels and approximately 216,000 rooms. Its market capitalization is approximately $8.9 billion. New York City’s iconic Plaza Hotel is under Fairmont Hotels and Resorts’ management, and Fairmont has been part of Accor since 2016.
Accor Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said Pélisson “was an entrepreneur par excellence. A true revolutionary of our industry who, together with Paul Dubrule, made Accor a global force to be reckoned with.”
“With courage and determination, they fearlessly challenged conventions, reinvented hospitality and forever altered the industry’s trajectory, making a global impact,” the Accor statement said.
Drawing inspiration from American hospitality, especially the Holiday Inn brands, “the Novotel model was a truly revolutionary concept which was years ahead of its time. It offered guests a modern bedroom with en-suite bathroom and desk, a grill restaurant, swimming pool and breakfast, all for one rate. Something most hotels of the time did not provide,” the company added.
Throughout Pélisson's career, he established the Ibis brand in 1974 and acquired the Mercure and Sofitel brands in 1975 and 1980, respectively. In 1991, Accor bought Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme, the operator of the Orient-Express train line. Accor plans to soon relaunch the train service.
Pélisson also oversaw Accor becoming publicly listed in 1983. Pélisson and Dubrule stepped back from running the company in 1997 to take co-chairman seats on the firm’s board.
Pélisson once said, “What matters most to [Dubrule and I] is that Accor should endure. Accor isn’t a holding enterprise, it’s a company, which must have a spirit and must last for several decades.”
Pélisson’s nephew, Gilles Pélisson, worked for Accor for 17 years, including five years as its chairman and CEO between 2006 and 2011.