Accor’s Bazin on How Travel Portfolios Are Changing

Luxury Travel Advisor’s parent company, Questex, owns the International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF), which recently convened in Berlin, bringing over 1,200 senior leaders in global hospitality investment and development together for the first time in 18 months. A highlight of the event was a one-on-one conversation with Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO, Accor Group. In a session entitled, “Rethinking Hospitality,” he said he has learned a lot over the past 18 months.

As the pandemic set in, he realized from his Paris-based headquarters that much of the decision making to get through the crisis would come from the hotel managers on the ground and not from the corporate office.

Accor is the world’s largest hotel company, with 40 brands from luxury to economy, more than 5,000 hotels in 110 countries. Its luxury brands include Raffles, Orient Express, Faena, Banyan Tree, Delano, Sofitel Legend, Fairmont, SLS, Sofitel and So.

Bazin said that essentially handing over the keys to his teams on the ground enlightened him as to the strong talent Accor has across the world.