Accor’s third quarter results registered a drop of 68.7% to €329 million due to the effects of the health crisis, but the hotel group feels the “worst of the crisis is now behind us”.
“Our performances during the third quarter point to a marked recovery of business during the summer season. The worst of the crisis is now behind us, but our main markets are still substantially affected by the measures rolled out to combat the health crisis. Only China reports solid performances and should swiftly recover its activity level pre-crisis,” said Sébastien Bazin, Accor’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“Discipline, adaptability and cost control are critical. We keep transforming our organizations to make the Group even more efficient, more agile, and focused on the most profitable and promising markets and segments. We are also deploying additional sources of revenue, in our hotels and in our loyalty program,” he added.
RevPAR across the group fell by 62.8% during the third quarter, an improvement over a “difficult second quarter” which saw RevPAR figures tumble 88.2%. The pickup was seen in all regions, and mostly in Europe during summer.
Accor still managed to open 57 hotels during this reporting quarter, adding 7,800 rooms to its inventory. It is now operating 750,135 rooms in 5,121 hotels, with a pipline of 208,000 rooms within 1,192 hotels running at 75% in emerging markets.
In Asia, RevPAR fell by 58.8%. China fared best, with RevPAR falling only by 29.4%. The improvement continues reflected in September’s RevPAR which was only down 16.8%. Domestic tourism showed its potential during the “golden week” vacation after the national holiday season in the first week of October.
Australia’s RevPAR fell 62.7% in this quarter with business restricted to domestic customers and hotel quarantines still in place since the country’s borders are still closed.
HotelServices, which combines fees for Management & Franchise (M&F) and services for owners, generated €224 million revenue, down by 69.0% like-for-like. Revenue of fees from Management & Franchise (M&F) stood at €72 million, down by 72.4% like-for-like, with a considerable fall in fees based on hotels’ operating margins (incentive fees) in management contracts.
