Accor's Bazin Shares Hotel Industry Outlook and Reflects on How the Business Has Changed in 10 Years

Accor CEO and Chairman Sébastien Bazin admits that finding capital on Wall Street today is the hardest it has been for a decade.

His conclusion is the hotel industry will slow down but that hotel assets will retain their value as the industry has the advantage of being able to reprice its offerings every night.

Financing will be expensive, and loan to value likely will go down, so if you add all these, [the industry] will likely slow down. One thing that worries me is that pricing is going up, he said at Alvarez & Marsal’s European Hospitality Investment Conference.

Economic headwinds are not the same everywhere, though, he said.

In Singapore, I have never seen so much wealth. Hong Kong family offices are moving to Singapore. There is money in Saudi, while in Europe we are almost expecting doom and gloom, so I would say, move your [backside]. The recession is not the same everywhere. It depends on where the money is coming from, he said.

Bazin added the France-based Accor intends to show more muscle in the Americas.

The Americans have missed the boat on lifestyle, and China does not know how to create it, he said.