Paris-based Accor’s Q3 2021 performance numbers indicate significant improvements not only over the same quarter last year but the second quarter of this year. During the three months ending Sept. 30, revenue per available room improved 20 percentage points from Q2 2021, reflecting the summer’s “strong activity.” Over the quarter, demand translated in higher prices than Q3 2019 in leisure areas such as French and British provinces, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. with strong lifestyle hotel business.
Business travelers and some meetings, incentives, conferences and events activity returned in September and October. Group revenue for the third quarter of 2021 came in at €589 million, up 79 percent as reported, and 79 percent like-for-like versus Q3 2020 (i.e., down 40 percent compared with Q3 2019).
During the third quarter, Accor opened 82 hotels with 10,000 rooms for net system growth of 2.5 percent over the last 12-month period. The group is aiming for net system growth of around 3 percent on a full-year basis in 2021. At the end of September, the group had a hotel portfolio of 769,000 rooms (5,252 hotels) and a pipeline of 211,000 rooms (1,187 hotels).
“This third quarter of 2021 saw a genuine pick-up in demand,” Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of Accor, said in a statement. “Our business was very strong this summer in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, particularly for our leisure destinations. These trends are expected to persist out to the end of the year.
“People are very keen to travel again. With this rebound, our vision of augmented hospitality to serve our guests beyond their hotel rooms, has been confirmed with the acceleration of lifestyle & entertainment activities and takes on its full meaning. Our teams are fully mobilized to support this recovery by rolling out new services, such as the launch of the ALL payment card in France and via global communication campaigns.”
Consolidated Revenue
During Q3 2021, Accor reported revenue of €589 million, up 79 percent like-for-like versus Q3 2020. This increase amounted to 94 percent for HotelServices and 57 percent for Hotel Assets & Other. To provide a comparison with RevPAR (presented as the change versus Q3 2019 throughout this release), the like-for-like decline in revenue versus Q3 2019 is 40 percent.
In the Americas, RevPAR was down 38 percent vs. Q3 2019, reflecting a marked sequential improvement versus the second quarter 2021.
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North/Central America and the Caribbean reported improvements, with RevPAR down by 38 percent. Canada, where borders reopened gradually from August, made a notable contribution to this performance.
HotelServices
HotelServices, which includes fees from management & franchise and services to owners, reported €440 million in revenue, up 94 percent like-for-like versus Q3 2020 (down 42 percent like-for-like versus Q3 2019). This increase reflects the sharp recovery in activity seen over the summer.