France-based hotel group Accor reported "solid" revenue gains in the year's first half despite "significant" geopolitical headwinds and a negative impact from foreign exchange rates.
Accor CFO Martine Gerow on a Thursday conference call said that business transient and group demand remained "flat" during the second quarter, with growth largely driven by the leisure segment.
"What we saw in the second quarter is quite similar to what we observed in the first quarter, which is flattish [demand]… This is true for business individuals and groups," she said.
Total revenue between January and June rose by 2.5 percent year over year to €2.7 billion as global occupancy for the year's first half improved by 0.7 percentage points to 64.7 percent.
Accor's systemwide Q2 revenue per available room increased by 4.1 percent to €78 on a like-for-like, constant-currency basis, according to the company, with the average room rate rising by 3 percent to €114.
The company's RevPAR in the Europe and North Africa region increased by 3.3 percent to €79 in Q2 compared to the same period of 2024. The region's average room rate increased marginally by 0.7 percent year over year to €103 and occupancy rose by 1.8 percentage points to 72.8 percent.
Results were mixed for Accor's key European markets during the quarter. In its home country, France, which accounts for 43 percent of the region's revenue, RevPAR was "strongly positive" in Paris, which benefitted from a favorable comparison due to the pre-Olympic Games impact in June 2024. Performance in the French regions was "more moderate", with RevPAR returning to "slightly positive" growth.
There was continued decline in RevPAR in the U.K.—both in London and the regions—which Accor attributed to "weak confidence in the country's economic situation".
Germany also saw a year-on-year decline in RevPAR due to "a highly unfavorable comparison basis" in June 2024 linked to the 2024 European Football Championship.
While the company expects "softer" second-half revenue growth (largely due to the comparative impact of the 2024 Olympic Games in France), group chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin reconfirmed the group's full-year guidance on RevPAR growth, which is expected to increase 3 percent to 4 percent year over year.