Hotelier wins as tourists switch from US to Europe

Accor bosses Duncan O’Rourke, Jean-Jacques Morin and Adrian Williams. Picture: Glenn Hampson

The Paris-based deputy chief executive of one of the world’s largest hotel companies, Accor, says having a spread of 6000 ­hotels across the world pays off during times of conflict, such as the Middle Eastern chaos.

“We do benefit from some of the balancing effects,” says Accor deputy chief executive Jean-Jacques Morin from the Gold Coast where he was attending Accor’s 350-strong general managers leaders conference at the new Mondrian Hotel this week. “Business in America is soft. Business from Canada to the United States is down 30 per cent.”

He adds that the number of international visitors arriving in the US is down 5-10 per cent, for an average of 7 per cent.

“And the Japanese, Korean and the Taiwanese that were planning to spend their vacation like they would typically in the States, guess where they are going? They are going to Europe. And so we do benefit from the change of flows of the travellers,” he said.

He added that many Chinese travellers were not going to the US and were instead heading to Europe, where Accor was brand heavy. The company manages 6000 hotels across the world, ­including 360 properties in Australia with another 40 in the pipeline, according to Accor’s chief operating officer for the Pacific, Adrian Williams.

Mr Morin adds that of course he is not happy to see things not going well in some parts of the world. “But I think we have been benefiting from that natural edge of being present in many, many places,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Morin said Accor has been transforming the company over the past 10 years. “We have three times more brands, some 48 brands … and we have three times more luxury brands than we used to have,” he said.

“We used to be a premium mid-scale economy company … we are expanding more into the luxury space. We really cover all the travellers. We are French, which is an asset in the current world. Today we have the largest lifestyle portfolio in the industry. Lifestyle is a big one.”

Mr Morin adds, however, that from a global perspective mid-scale hotels are “where the juice is. It’s called the Big Mac of the ­business”.

While Accor has 40 more ­hotels in Australia in the pipeline, Mr Morin said there had been a lot of construction challenges both here and overseas. “It was basically blocked during Covid,” he said, adding that no one was ­investing during Covid and the financial crisis.

“Here in Australia there was demand but no money,” he said, noting the problem of a lack of construction affected Europe and was true to a lesser extent in Asia.

“Construction is not back to pre-Covid levels,” he said, adding that when GDP goes down “companies don’t want to send their staff travelling”.

On the development front in Australia, Mr Morin likes building hotels with residences ­attached, as is the case with the new Accor-managed Mondrian Hotel on the Gold Coast.

Accor’s chief executive Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Duncan O’Rourke, added that American hotel companies ­wanted to come into the Pacific. “We really need to protect our market (here).”

On the Gold Coast, Accor says that despite competition from cheaper hotels in Asia, it will continue to expand.

“We have brands for all travellers. We think there’s more ­opportunities for Gold Coast properties,” said Mr O’Rourke.