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FORBES ASIA MARCH 2020Paris. In 1997 Bazin became head of the Euro-
pean business of Los Angeles-based property in-
vestment firm Colony Capital. At Colony, he led
several hotel acquisitions, including a €1 billion
investment in Accor, before representing Colony
on Accor’s board in early 2006. In August 2013,
Bazin was appointed chairman and CEO of Ac-
cor (and left Colony).
In 2015, he led Accor’s $2.9 billion purchase of
Canada-based FRHI Hotels & Resorts (the “R”
in FRHI originally stood for Raffles). The group
was studded with luxury gems, such as the Raffles
chain, the Fairmont chain, the Savoy in London
and the Plaza Hotel in New York. Accor bought
FRHI from its three owners, Colony, Saudi Ara-
bia’s Kingdom Holding, and the Qatar govern-
ment. In the transaction, Accor paid $840 million
in cash and 46.7 million new shares that left King-
dom and Qatar holding respective stakes of 5.8%
and 10.5% in Accor (now 6.1% and 10.9%). Raf-
fles, which had been bought by the Qatar govern-
ment in a separate deal, remained 100% owned by
the Qatar government’s Katara Hospitality.
To further woo luxury travellers, Bazin needs
to beef up Accor’s membership program, simi-
lar to what Marriott has been doing with its Bon-
voy program. “What we want to do is retain ourcustomer base,” says Bazin. “It costs so much to
acquire customers that whenever they stay with
you, make sure you follow them and give them
whatever they want outside of the hotel.” Starting
this year, Accor will introduce a revamped loyal-
ty program across all its properties called ALL—
standing for Accor Live Limitless.
With typical French flair, ALL will offer what
Bazin calls “money-can’t-buy” experiences—ex-
clusive gallery exhibitions, private dinners host-
ed by Michelin chefs and backstage concert pass-
es. In Asia, the program—for now —offers mostly
room discounts and wine-tasting dinners.
To ensure ALL lives up to its promises, Accor
is investing €400 million to buy into companies
that operate restaurants, nightclubs and exclu-
sive lounges so that Accor has its own in-house
resources to wow guests. It also has tieups with
the likes of talent management company IMG
and sports and entertainment firm AEG. How-
ever, a €50 million deal in early 2019 to sponsor
French football team Paris Saint-Germain did
raise a few eyebrows.
Some investors and analysts questioned how
the large sum paid will provide a return on its
investment. “Our concern is that the decision to
sponsor may not have been made in the best in-
terest of shareholders,” Thomas Beevers, founder
and CEO of London-based equity research firm
StockViews, wrote in a report last March.
Bazin counters that these investments are all
designed to dazzle guests and to transform Accor
into a lifestyle operator. Loyalty programs have
been an increasingly important revenue source
for the big chains—Marriott’s Bonvoy generates
a roughly 6.5% return on investment and 50%
of the chain’s hotel booking. Bazin aims to grow
earnings from its loyalty program to more than
€100 million. “It’s not good enough, but it’s so
much better than €6 million right now,” he says.
Despite headwinds in Accor’s key Asia Pacif-
ic markets, including the trade war, Hong Kong’s
unrest, and now the coronavirus outbreak, ana-
lysts are generally optimistic on Accor’s prospects
in Asia. “The trade war may actually be benefi-
cial for the French company if you think that Chi-
na may limit access to its market to the likes of
[U.S. companies] Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt,” says
Thomas Sineau, senior intelligence analyst at
New York-based analytics firm CB Insights.
Bazin is already planning Accor’s next move—
to partner with major digital players such as Ali-
baba, Amazon and Google. “Those guys respect
size,” he says. “Scale matters even more today than
it mattered 20 years ago.”“Every brand we add
gives us another op-
portunity to seduce
an owner,” says
Sébastien Bazin.In Asia, a new Accor property
opens every three days. MUHAMMAD FADLI FOR FORBES ASIA