With the “10-year transformation of Accor now complete,” Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of Accor, unveiled what comes next at the IHIF EMEA 2024 on Monday.
Speaking to Victoria Hills, partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Bazin said that geopolitics was “messy” and that he “hated technology” in a provocative debate which tackled everything from the caliber of world leaders to the carbon net zero challenge.
Bazin has been chairman and CEO of Accor since August 2013, following 16 years at Colony Capital where he led European operations for the private real estate investment firm. He was famously offered the Accor job after writing a paper about where the hospitality giant should go next. Last year, in addition to his current role as Accor’s group chairman and CEO, he also took on the leadership of the group’s luxury & lifestyle division.
Bazin said that as Accor’s CEO, he now felt “serene” after completing the business plan he had envisaged over a decade ago. “I had a clear idea about what Accor needed – I wanted to shake this company upside-down in terms of business model, segments and geographies,” he said. “I’ve done that. Now that that transformation is behind me – it took three years longer than expected – I feel serene.” He added: “A leader has to be good at assembling a team, at listening to the market. There is a point where there’s a bit of a tailwind. That has currently lasted 18 months, and exceptionally, it might last another two years.”
However, he underlined that the group wouldn’t be resting on its laurels, and would continue to innovate, as it had done recently by venturing into yachting via Orient Express. “I want to navigate new waters,” he said.
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