Hotel giant Accor is rearranging its structure to create two business divisions to accelerate development around the
world.
The France-based company is to establish the two divisions, which
will be called "Economy, Midscale & Premium" and "Luxury &
Lifestyle," from 1 October. Accor said the move would create "a clear
and transparent model for each of its business lines."
Economy,
Midscale & Premium will include mainstream brands such as Ibis,
Novotel, Mercure, Swissotel, Movenpick and Pullman. The division will
have a total of 4,816 properties and another 948 hotels in development.
This
division will also incorporate leadership positions in Europe, Latin
America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, which will be centred around
four regional headquarters in Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Shanghai.
The
Luxury & Lifestyle division will encompass Raffles and Orient
Express, Fairmont, Sofitel and MGallery, plus lifestyle joint venture
Ennismore. It will cover a total of 488 hotels around the world, plus
another 266 in the current development pipeline.
"Changing our organizational
structure is a natural step in the transformation initiated several
years ago, which turned Accor into an asset-light group that is more
agile and efficient, with a global profile and which has become a key
player in luxury and lifestyle," said Accor chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin. "By evolving from a generalist to
a multi-specialist model, our aim is to further improve Accor's appeal
in the eyes of owners, partners and investors. We capitalize on our
leadership positions to accelerate our development, better focus talents
and expertise, and improve our performance."