Tag Archives: Sébastien Bazin

Katara Hospitality announced a new partnership with Accor, a world-leading hospitality group with the two-fold signing of Raffles and Fairmont hotels in Qatar. The management agreement was signed by His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of Katara Hospitality and Mr. Sébastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO of Accor. The agreement signing was held at Katara Hospitality headquarters in Doha in the presence of Katara Hospitality Management represented by Andrew Humphries, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Rhazali, General Counsel, Irfan Sharief, Chief Asset Management Officer, Juan Aguilar, Acting Chief Technical Officer. As well as Accor Management represented by Mark Willis, CEO India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey and Gaurav Bhushan, CEO of Accor’s Lifestyle Brands. On this occasion, HH Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman, Katara Hospitality said, “Katara Hospitality is one of the first investors that understood the significance of the project, committing to developing the hospitality icon of Doha for the 21st Century in the State of Qatar. We are confident the ethos of Accor brand is a strategic fit for this iconic project as it is important that we have an operator who understands our vision and strategy, while ensuring it occupies its rightful position in the local and global marketplaces when it opens next year.” “While we regard 2022 as a milestone in the country’s development, this new property in Lusail will also occupy a focal point for residents and travellers during the FIFA World Cup. We believe that this is our opportunity to showcase a country that has grown into an international destination and Katara Hospitality will create the landmark to underpin lifetime memories. As Qatar National Vision 2030 creates …

Today more than half Accor branded hotels worldwide are closed, likely over two thirds in the coming weeks. The abrupt deterioration in the situation has prompted the Group to take drastic actions across its global operations; hence it has launched ‘ALL Heartist Fund’, a COVID-19 special financial program. In these unprecedented times, the Group stands more than ever by its employees, partners and communities, providing time, resources and access to its local and global network. Given the situation, the Group has decided to take aggressive, incremental actions. Collectively, these include: travel ban, hiring freeze, reduced schedules and /or furloughing for 75 per cent of global head office teams for Q2, resulting in a minimum €60m reduction in G&A for 2020; reviewed recurring investment plan for 2020 resulting in a €60m reduction in capital expenditures; the Group is further streamlining all other costs (e.g. sales, marketing, IT), in line with lower system wide revenues. In these unchartered territories, Accor’s Board of Directors has decided to complement management actions outlined above, by withdrawing its proposal for a 2019 dividend payment of c. €280m. After consulting with the Group’s main shareholders, JinJiang International, Qatar Investment Authority, Kingdom Holding Company and Harris Associates, Accor has decided to allocate 25 per cent of the planned dividend (€70m) to the launch of the ‘ALL Heartist Fund’, a COVID-19 special purpose vehicle. This fund will typically assist: Group’s 300,000 employees, pledging to pay for their COVID-19-related hospital expenses, for those who do not have social security or medical insurance; on a case by case basis, furloughed employees suffering great financial distress; on a case by case basis, individual partners facing financial difficulty This fund reflects the ambition …

Sabre Corporation and Accor will be creating the first unified central reservation (CR) and property management (PM) platform for the global hospitality industry. The collaboration intends to develop a new full service property management capability and enrich its existing central reservation and limited service property management systems. These capabilities will combine within a new unified cloud-native, highly-flexible platform that will be built for and available to hoteliers across all property classes and geographic regions. In this context, Accor would be Sabre’s newest enterprise hospitality customer, adopting Sabre’s industry-leading SynXis Central Reservation System and, ultimately, the new global technology platform for all its hospitality brands and geographies. “We know our customers have historically had limited options in this area, and we are taking the lead to deliver the solutions that hoteliers have repeatedly told us they both want and need. Once developed, this offering will power a new generation of retailing, distribution and fulfillment solutions that will enable hotels to drive revenue growth beyond traditional sources and offer unique personalised services to their guests around the world,” said Sean Menke, President and CEO of Sabre Corporation. “Partners like Sabre are essential to helping us effectively leverage existing and new technology to further accelerate our net supply growth and lower costs for our hotel owners as well as for the Group,” said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO for Accor. “For Accor, the new technology will bring an opportunity to further and significantly enhance the Group’s core business activities including hotel distribution, guest recognition and owner relationships,” said Gilles de Richemond, Chief Information Officer, Accor. “We expect that the unified CR/PM platform will allow Sabre to better meet the needs of enterprise hoteliers …