Hotel group Accor increased revenue by 85 per cent to €701 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021, but the group’s sales remain 23 per cent behind the first quarter of 2019.
Accor’s brands across the globe reached occupancy rates of 46.9 per cent, a 17.9 per cent decrease from the first quarter of 2019. Although, average daily rate for the first quarter was €88, which was a 3 per cent rise from 2019.
The company noted that pricing has been above 2019 levels for four consecutive quarters, but this has been partially driven by inflation. Systemwide revenue per available room (revpar) was €41 for the quarter, a 25.3 per cent drop from the same period in 2019.
Company executives pointed to the Covid-19 Omicron variant as an early drag on first quarter performance, particularly in Europe, but also labelled the variant as a "brief hiccup" in an otherwise promising start to 2022.
Accor said in a statement that there had been "a sustained increase in the number of business and leisure domestic guests".
President and CEO Sebastien Bazin added the company had "confidence that our performance will continue to improve month after month, with prices already above 2019 levels”.
International travel continues to lag domestic sales by a large margin, according to deputy CEO and chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Morin.
In an earnings call, Morin said international travel for the first quarter of 2022 was still "minus 48 per cent" compared to 2019, but he predicted a more robust recovery as travel restrictions are removed.
Morin cited Germany as an example, where revpar was down 62 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, compared to 2019, but added that Accor had seen a “very strong rebound” in Germany after travel restrictions were lifted for April.
Covid-related restrictions in Europe continued to dampen demand recovery at the start of 2022. Accor’s first quarter revpar for southern Europe was 21 per cent off 2019 levels.
Paris lagged smaller cities in the region due to the continued absence of international business travellers, but Accor noted an uptick later in the quarter as that segment returned.
Northern Europe is even further behind in its recovery with Accor’s revpar down 38 per cent on 2019 - regional cities have been performing better than major business hubs such as London.
By the end of the first quarter, Accor had opened 26 new hotels, representing about 3,700 rooms, for a network net growth of 2.5 per cent over the first quarter of 2021.
Accor’s portfolio now features 5,304 hotels with 777,800 rooms across the world. This is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent during 2022 with openings expected to accelerate from the second quarter.