Accorhotels revenues jump 16.9% in 2018

Accorhotels has reported a 16.9% sales increase to €3,610m (£3,130m) in its full-year results for 2018, driven by “solid business momentum” in most of its markets.

EBITDA was up 14.5% to €712m (£617m) during the year, 8.8% on a like-for-like basis, and group RevPAR increased by 5.6% overall in 2018.

The hotel group ended the year with a hotel portfolio of 703,806 rooms (4,780 hotels) and a pipeline of 198,000 rooms (1,118 hotels), 78% of which in emerging markets and 49% in the Asia-Pacific region alone.

In 2018, the hotel brand said it it continued its transformation toward an asset-light model through the disposal of 64.8% of AccorInvest and the redeployment of the cash proceeds from core acquisitions.

The brand recently acquired a portfolio of six Mercure hotels under a hotel management agreement with Proark, a Danish based real estate property group holding assets in retail and hotel properties across Europe.

Collectively adding 864 rooms under the Mercure brand in the UK, the hotels are located in Bedford, Cardiff, Harlow, Nottingham, Telford and Birmingham. The portfolio of hotels will receive a capital investment of £15m and each hotel will undergo extensive refurbishment as they are rebranded from Park Inn to Mercure. The hotels are set to open individually between Q2 2019 and Q4 2020.

Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO, said: “Accor 2018 results reflect a profound transformation, marked foremost by the sale of our real estate division and a large number of acquisitions. Our results are clearly improving, with EBITDA, free cash flow generation and organic development all once again at record highs.”