News & Stories

Paris. Euro 2016: Since last weekend, all 24 teams qualified for the Football Euro 2016 being hosted by France know when, against whom and where they will be competing next June. Hoteliers also know now how to raise rates.

Augsburg. The stock exchange reacted to the announced merger of AccorHotels and FRHI with a 3 percent loss. Accor has paid too much, brokers in London have stated. Either way, it certainly appears as though the ambitious AccorHotels CEO Sébastien Bazin had bought a ticket into the world of the rich and beautiful for himself for 2.9 billion dollars – after two months of negotiations only. AccorHotels would never have managed this with Sofitel alone. However, with this deal – as with others – it has not been about brands and prestige for quite some time. The two other deals of the week also demonstrate this: Pandox/Lenoardo on European level and Louvre/Nordic Hotels on the German level. Maria Puetz-Willems comments.

Paris. AccorHotels just announced the signing of an agreement with the Qatar Investment Authority, Kingdom Holding Company of Saudi Arabia and Oxford Properties, an Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System company for the acquisition of FRHI Holdings Ltd, parent of Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel.

"This is …a great step forward for AccorHotels. … Through it, we are positioning ourselves as a key player in the current industry consolidation process while maintaining substantial leeway to implement our transformation plan," said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AccorHotels.

Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority, said: "… This deal generates the scale needed to drive the next phase of growth in our real estate and hospitality investments. QIA has confidence in AccorHotels and looks forward to becoming a significant shareholder."

FRHI includes three of the most prestigious global luxury hotel brands: Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel. It has 155 hotels and resorts, and more than 56,000 rooms. Its portfolio includes such legendary properties as Raffles Singapore, The Savoy in London, Shanghai's Fairmont Peace Hotel, The Plaza Hotel in New York, Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris, Fairmont San Francisco, Fairmont Banff Springs and others.

FRHI has more than 45,000 employees under its brands. FRHI's hotels and resorts span 34 countries across five continents, with 42 properties in North America, 2 in South America, 26 in Europe, 17 in Africa/Middle East and 28 in Asia-Pacific.

The integration of Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel will enable Accor to optimize its luxury and upscale brands. With nearly 500 luxury and upscale properties, AccorHotels will become one of the key global players in this segment.

AccorHotels aims to generate around €65 million in revenue and cost synergies. Significant improvements will also be made in terms of customer data, thanks to the integration of a customer base including 3 million loyalty members, of which 75% are North Americans. The transaction will be accretive on earnings per share from the second year, with synergies fully effective by the third year.

The agreement with Qatar Investment Authority and Kingdom Holding Company of Saudi Arabia provides for the cash payment of $840 million and the issuance of 46.7 million Accor shares. These shares will be issued via a reserved capital increase, subject to the approval of shareholders at an Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting. The transaction will leave QIA and KHC respective stakes of 10.5% and 5.8% in Accor's share capital. Two representatives of QIA and one representative of KHC will be appointed to the Accor Board of Directors.

Subscribers will find further details in our Friday issue. / kn

Paris. Maybe four months? Sébastien Bazin thinks it will take a trimester or even longer before Paris tourism in general and the hospitality sector in particular recover from the recent attacks. He accepts higher costs for security. At the same time, IHG is launching "IHG Assist", a tool to give clients a better security feeling.

Paris. Since Monday, more than 40,000 delegates from 195 countries have gathered to attend the Global Summit on Climate Change being held in Paris until December 11. It's the hoteliers' duty now to capitalize on every delegate attending the event as an opportunity to catch up on revenue lost after the November 13 attacks.

Southlake. The next merger has been announced: Sabre Corporation on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 announced that it will acquire the Trust Group of Companies, a central reservations, revenue management and hotel marketing provider with a significant presence in EMEA and Asia Pacific.

Amsterdam. Arne Sorenson, the Marriott CEO and future leader of the combined Marriott-Starwood company tried to reassure everybody last week after the announcement of the mega merger. The enlarged brand portfolio seems to have become the most important issue to deal with. Experts compare the current consolidation with the airline industry of the past.

Rueschlikon/Zurich. In ten years, will our buildings be constructed with 3-D printers and robots and will the building technology, security systems and multimedia be solely managed digitally? A new study that addresses these questions also reveals at the same time: Digitisation within the construction industry has yet to progress very far at all.

Bethesda. At the end of the day, it was a share consideration: Starwood Hotels made itself an interesting target offering itself for sale in February this year, but it only became interesting to Marriott Hotels when its share value dropped by 15 percent several months later. In this respect, the price of 12.2 billion dollars Marriott is paying for Starwood could be considered favourable. The transaction that will be carried out by mid-2016 is a mega deal – or even a killer deal? The new global giant chain combines 4,300 Marriot hotels and 1,270 Starwood hotels, 19 brands on the one hand and 11 brands on the other, as well as 54 million and 21 million loyalty programme members respectively. The result is the biggest chain in the world consisting of more than 5,500 hotels, 1.1 million rooms, 30 brands and 75 million loyalty members. This dimension heralds a new era in the hospitality industry.

Bethesda/Stamford. Marriott International, Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced today that the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will create the world’s largest hotel company. The transaction combines Starwood's leading lifestyle brands and international footprint with Marriott's strong presence in the luxury and select-service tiers, as well as the convention and resort segment, creating a more comprehensive portfolio.
Combined, the companies operate or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide. The combined company's Pro forma fee revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2015 totals over $2.7 billion.
The deal is valued at about $12.2 billion. Starwood shareholders will receive 0.92 shares of Marriott Class A common stock and $2 in cash for each share of Starwood common stock. On a pro forma basis, Starwood shareholders would own approximately 37 percent of the combined company’s common stock.
Further details in our next issue on Friday! / kn