Hotel giant Accor sees revenue plunge two-thirds as recovery stalls
Hotel giant Accor, which owns the Mercure, Ibis and Novotel chains, said its revenue slumped nearly two-thirds in the third quarter compared to last year.
Europe’s biggest hotel group posted revenue €329m (£297m), down 63.7 per cent on the same period last year.
Accor said that it had seen recovery across all of its businesses in the three month period after a challenging second quarter, when revenue fell 88 per cent due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the company said that the introduction of fresh travel restrictions in August had meant that the recovery had stalled at the end of the quarter.
Travel and hospitality firms have been among the worst hit by the pandemic, which has caused tourism to collapse around the world.
The combination of health concerns and restrictions on free travel have suppressed the numbers of people taking holidays around the world.
In addition, business travel has all but dried up as governments around the world put in place quarantine measures for travellers.
Accor, which operates more than 5,000 hotels in 111 countries, said 90 per cent of its hotels were now open, compared with 81 per cent in August.
Chair and chief executive Sébastien Bazin said: “Our performances during the third quarter point to a marked recovery of business during the summer season.
“The worst of the crisis is now behind us, but our main markets are still substantially affected by the measures rolled out to combat the health crisis.
“Only China reports solid performances and should swiftly recover its activity level pre-crisis.
The hotel group said that it had liquidity of €4bn at the end of September, and was burning through cash at a rate of €80m a month.