Full Video: Accor Deputy CEO at Skift Future of Lodging Forum 2023

25.08.2023 - 13:50 / skift.com / Sean Oneill / Justin Dawes / Jean-Jacques Morin / Cruises

Jean-Jacques Morin, a top executive at Accor, said the company is committed to growing its “augmented hospitality’ offerings and incorporating sustainability into its business strategy.

That means moving beyond just providing hotel rooms to offering unique experiences plus richer food and beverage options.

Morin spoke with Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill at the Skift Future of Lodging Forum in London on March 29.

Morin is Accor’s group deputy CEO, group chief financial officer, and CEO for the premium, midscale, and economy division.

Morin discussed the strong demand in the hotel industry, highlighting growth in the Middle East and Africa, as well as China. He attributed the demand to a shift in consumer spending towards experiences and noted the experiential transformation of the hospitality industry.

In summary, Jean-Jacques Morin believes Accor’s success is due to staying ahead of industry trends, focusing on customer value, and offering unique experiences.

O’Neill: Jean-Jacques, thank you for joining us here at the Future of Lodging event in London. We’re grateful to have you.

Morin: Thank you. Delighted to be here.

O’Neill: So last year you were named the best chief financial officer in all of France, across all industries. So congratulations for that.

Morin: Thank you.

O’Neill: I think if people here had one question that they could ask the chief financial officer of a major hotel group right at this moment, it would be is demand staying strong? So it’s been about a month since you reported. Is demand staying strong?

Morin: Yes. I mean, first off, you may wonder why I’m not staying in finance and you’ve got the answer. I cannot do much better so I have to try something else.

But candidly, I’m delighted to be able to move in the battle because that’s really the way I look at moving in operations, which is getting to the case.

And in Accor, it’s extremely true that we’ve got gold in our hands and we just need to be able to transform it. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.

The demand again, I’ve got two hats. One is the CFO, and the other one is the business guy. As a CFO, I do not believe it. As a business guy, I’m a delighted man.

I mean the demand is incredibly strong again in January and February. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. I mean there are enough statistics in the industry to be aware of that, but what is amazing is that it’s strong across the board.

I.E., in our case last year we had an amazing year in the Middle East and Africa. Middle East and Africa we had [RevPAR, revenue per available room, a key industry metric] which was north of 50% last year.

But there were some good explanations for it. There were two big events. One was the Qatar football cap and