Thomas Dubaere has been promoted to CEO for South America as part of the recently-announced reorganisation of Accor.
Duncan O'Rourke, formerly COO of Accor’s Central Europe region, has been promoted to CEO for the extended Northern Europe division, which is a merger of the previous Northern, Central, East and New East Europe hubs.
Speaking exclusively to Hospitality Insights, Dubaere said: “I’ve been in the UK for a decade, during which time we have doubled the network size, integrated Fairmont hotels, transformed the ibis brand, spearheaded the launch of Accor’s now global mobile welcome, transformed our business and topline structure, launched the London Academie training academy and created the Northern European hub with Benelux and Nordics regions which I’ve headed up for the last two years. For all the achievements and changes I’ve overseen, what fills me with most pride is people. People are the heart and soul of our industry and Accor has the best people, filled with passion, vision and determination. We have an unwavering commitment to our partners and our guests and it is this is that sets Accor apart.”
Following 10 years in the UK as UKI MD and later COO Accor Northern Europe, Dubaere has grown the region to more than 400 hotels and 18 brands with a further four brands signed to open in the region by 2022 including Raffles London at The OWO, Tribe, Jo&Joe and 25hours Hotels.
He added: “I am proud to see the growth and transformation of the UK and Northern European region over the last decade. As is true across Accor, it is a dynamic region committed to one thing; people. We build our business on our people, partners and guests and this will always be our focus. Our ambition remains unchanged: to develop the largest and best performing integrated hospitality ecosystem in the industry. I move to South America knowing the vision of the region I leave behind and welcoming the vision and opportunities of the region I will lead.”
Now in the new region, the executive arrives at a delicate moment for tourism, but he is optimistic. “Coming to South America, a region with a lot of potential and particularities, is a wonderful challenge, with a lot of responsibility. The hotel industry has been facing difficult times, but it will survive. I am here to help in this process”, he commented.
“From a business point of view, South America is a very important region for Accor, where we are the market leader. We have 383 hotels in the region and a pipeline with 95 hotels. Brazil is Accor's main market in South America, with 310 hotels and 63 in the pipeline. From the point of view of tourism expansion, the region is a market with great growth potential in leisure tourism, with unique natural beauty and business tourism. We are focused on continuing with our expansion plan in the region, which still has a lot of space for new hotels and excellent investment options”, concluded Dubaere.
Details of the company’s wider reorganisation were still emerging, but will see Europe divided into two groups: Northern Europe and Southern Europe (including France), headed respectively by Duncan O’Rourke and Maud Bailly.
Discussing the reorganisation in August, chairman & CEO Sébastien Bazin told analysts that the group was looking to a “leaner management structure”, adding: There's seven layers between a hotel GM and myself, there's certainly one or two too many for sure”.
Bazin said that the group was looking at “mutualisation, you don't do twice what's done in Sao Paulo and could be replicated in Singapore. Automation, make sure you have less human interaction. There's a lot of software, a lot of technology permitting today to be more agile and simpler.
There's another €1bn of hotel asset cost, shared services, which hasn't been addressed as of yet, but certainly something that we cannot shy away from, which has to be addressable in the very short term.”
He concluded: “We need to finish the job, and we need to go to a full asset-light company in terms of organisation.”
Insight: Accor’s investors are certainly looking to the detail of the group’s reorganisation and the potential for sustained cost cutting, which should continue to emerge for our picking over. Some of its is moving the borders on the global game of Risk, some of it, such as the move to greater technology, will require more of a shift.
The deals market is starting to move. Paris has become a target, with brokers running the quarantine gauntlet to hop on the Eurostar and make their cases. Rumour has it that over at AccorInvest a refinancing is being attempted before Christmas.
Accor needs to shore up its walls and get its defences in place before it comes under attack. If AccorInvest can be put on firmer ground Accor may feel more confident about deploying the €4bn cash it has accrued - in the meantime we look forward to an intriguing announcement next month.