With RevPAR recovering since April 2021, Accor, Paris, returned to profitability last year reporting a net profit of €85 million (US$96.1 million). It record positive EBITDA of €22 million (US$24.7 million), bouncing back from a €391 million (US$443 million) loss a year earlier. Revenue for the year increased 36% to €2.2 billion (US$2.5 billion) compared to €4.05 billion (US$4.6 billion) in 2019.
RevPAR for last year was still 46% below 2019. However, after a slow January 2022, Accor reported that February RevPAR results were “already a turning point.”
Average room rates came close to or, in many destinations at the end of 2021, even exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels, Accor reported.
During 2021, Accor organically opened 288 hotels, representing 41,000 rooms, resulting in a net growth in the network of 3%. At the end of December 2021, the group had a hotel portfolio of 777,714 rooms (5,298 hotels) and a pipeline of 214,000 rooms (1,218 hotels). For 2022, Accor expects a net unit growth of 3.5%.
“Our pipeline continues to flourish, with luxury and upscale segment representing close to 40% of future openings, a 12-point increase in the past four years,” said Accor Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin, “As the desire to escape and to resume traveling has never been stronger, we are well underway to make the most of this rebound in all our markets. In 2022, we will continue to unfold our vision of ever-more experience-driven and sustainable tourism, facilitated by digital technologies.”
Accor didn’t propose a dividend for 2021 as it focuses on its return to profitability but said it “targets to re-install an ordinary dividend payment calculated on the basis of 50% of the recurring free cash flow, in line with its historical dividend policy.”