Unsurprisingly, the major hotel groups painted a very bleak picture when they presented their preliminary results for the past year. " The global hotel industry has gone through an unprecedented crisis" said Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor. " 2020 has been the most difficult year in our 93-year history" according to Stéphanie Linnartz, who recently took over as President of the Marriott group after the death of its former CEO, Arne Sorenson, from pancreatic cancer. As if to darken the picture a little more... Profits are obviously in freefall, and revenue per room has more than halved: the trend is identical for the entire industry, with Accor being penalised slightly more by its position as European leader, with RevPAR down by 62 %, compared with -52.5 % for IHG and -56.7 % for Hilton.
More than any other continent, Europe has been hardest hit by the pandemic. Above all, it has been slow to keep pace with the recovery seen elsewhere in the world since last April, and in particular in Chinabut also more generally in Asia and the Middle East. " In mainland China, RevPAR rebounded significantly throughout the year, falling by less than 10 % year-on-year in Decembersaid Stéphanie Linnartz. If China has shown that demand can be quite resilient when the virus is perceived to be contained, we have also seen that progress can be slowed by major spikes in cases of the virus, as we saw in the United States and Europe towards the end of 2020. "In the last quarter of 2020, the IHG Group notes, for example, that in the Greater China region, the decline in RevPAR was limited to -18.2 %, compared with -49.5 % for the Americas region and -70.5 % for the Europe-Middle East-Africa region.
While demand from companies and groups continues to be moderate, the near future of hotel groups is based more on leisure than business customers. Hyatt notes that at the end of last year, " in line with third-quarter trends, the occupancy rate was mainly driven by leisure demandThis was particularly true at weekends and during holidays in the fourth quarter. "
Accor, which has made lifestyle its hobbyhorseis counting on this segment, which is popular with travellers, to drive its growth. "In 2021, when the roll-out of vaccination will enable a gradual rebound in tourism Driven in particular by leisure customers, Accor is ideally positioned to benefit from the recovery".says CEO Sébastien Bazin.
However, while the heads of the major groups are relatively optimistic about the months ahead, fuelled by leisure demand and the prospect of improved travel conditions, the recovery is still likely to be long and slow. Keith Barr, Chief Executive Officer of IHG Hotels & Resorts, puts it mildly: " 2021 has begun with many of these challenges are still in placeMore significant progress towards recovery is unlikely before the end of the year, and will depend on the global roll-out of vaccines, the lifting of restrictions and an acceleration in economic activity."
