Accor will cut between 300 and 400 jobs in France

The French hotel giant Accor, which has brands such as Ibis, Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure and Pullman, is now committed to “a marathonTo get through the coronavirus crisis which will last. Sébastien Bazin, the CEO of the group, at the head of 5,099 hotels in more than one hundred countries, believes that the situation “will not go smoothly»In the coming weeks for the hotel industry in France, due to the curfew implemented in eight metropolitan areas.

«This summer we were at -40% compared to the summer of last year, in March we were at -90% so there was a short-lived rebound, from July 1 to September 4. Now we are at -60%“, He indicated Tuesday on France inter. “The hotels in town are much more affected, because they receive international business customers who are not there. The very high end is closed, the low end suffers less“, He specified. “And then things will not work out, with the curfew, in the weeks ahead», He continued.

It’s not going to be very pretty

Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor

Asked about a possible rebound in activity during the school holidays of All Saints’ Day, he replied: “We do not know damn nothing because now people reserve 4 days before their departure. But it’s not gonna be very pretty».

In Europe, where Accor generates half of its sales, “it’s a catastrophe“, Estimated Sébastien Bazin, pointing”a total inconsistency between the measures taken between the States of the Union: for the traveler it is incomprehensible, therefore he does not travel». «It is high time (…) that we put in place a common procedure between the different countriesIn order to allow movement between them, he said. Faced with China which “is gone back exactly like before the Covid in the space of 9 months “And in the United States which”suffer less because they have 350 million customers in the same territory», «Europe is the place where we suffer the most, with Latin America“, he said.

In August, he announced a savings plan of 200 million euros, on a cost base of 1.2 billion in 2019, which will involve the elimination of a thousand jobs in the world (out of 18,000 in total ). He specifies that these job cuts, “between 1000 and 1200“, Concern”head offices around the world“. In France, “between 300 and 400»Posts are threatened. “Small salaries will continue to have a salary for two years, but we will provide training for them in a profession other than the hotel industry.“, He specified.

Despite state aid, “we keep losing money“, He specified. In the first half, the group recorded a net loss of 1.5 billion euros, for a turnover of 917 million euros, down 52.4% over one year.

Accor hotels lend their kitchens to restaurateurs subject to curfew

In this particularly gloomy context for tourism and the hotel and catering sector, the new curfew measures are seen as yet another blow. “We have collapsed (…) it’s terribly complicated», He judges. To “stick together”, the CEO of Accor proposes, with the voluntary hoteliers of the group, to provide the kitchens of the hotels to neighborhood restaurateurs, subject to curfew.

It is “offer restaurant owners who wish to come to us, to take possession of our hotel restaurant with our brigades, and ensure that their customers come to sleep with us at cost price», He specifies, putting«their brand, their identity, their concept, their menu, their checkered tablecloth». «They will welcome their neighborhood customers and ensure that these customers come to sleep with us at a cost price“In order to respect the curfew at 9 p.m., which will result in”margin sharing», Explained Sébastien Bazin.

Among other operations of this type to try to fill its rooms, the group has been offering rooms from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in its 250 hotels in Great Britain since the beginning of August for teleworking enthusiasts. In addition, during confinement, 300 Accor hotels were ready to welcome patients with Covid-19. But this operation did not really work, according to Sébastien Bazin.