Accor's full-year 2024 revenue per available room increased 5.7 percent year over year, the hospitality group said, driven in part by "resilient" business travel demand.
"Room revenue growth was driven both by business and leisure, which proved remarkably resilient," Accor CFO Martine Gerow said during a Thursday conference call. Gerow also said that large corporates, as a category, reported "double-digit growth" in room revenue, primarily driven by demand from the tech and financial services sectors.
However, Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin conceded that "it's very difficult for us to assess if a trip is done for business or leisure. It's all combined today. Data doesn't really show us the main purpose of the trip, but 'bleisure' is more true today than it has ever been."
He added that, based on Accor's data, people tend to travel from Thursday night to Tuesday morning, working remotely from the hotel on Friday and Monday, while visiting the destination over the weekend.
The France-based hospitality group reported a 11 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to €5.6 billion, which breaks down into a 5 percent increase for the group's Premium, Midscale and Economy (PM&E) division and a 19 percent increase for its Luxury & Lifestyle (L&L) division.
The global average room rate for 2024 was €113, marking a 3.8 percent year-on-year increase, while occupancy rate increased 1.2 percentage points to 66.7 percent. RevPAR increased 5.7 percent to €75.
Full-year RevPAR for Accor's Americas region increased 10.5 percent to €42, while average room rate rose 7.4 percent to €70 and occupancy rose 1.7 percentage points to 59.4 percent.
Consolidated recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came to €1.1 billion for 2024, a new record for Accor and up 12 percent on the previous year.
Bazin said the record performance reflects "the strength of our brands and our digital tools, the renewed confidence of our partners and the efficiency of our organization based on two autonomous and complementary divisions" and added that "we are approaching 2025 with confidence and the ambition to once again deliver excellent results."
Q4 Results
Systemwide RevPAR for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased 5.8 percent year over year to €77, while occupancy increased 1.6 percentage points to 67.2 percent and average room rate increased 3.3 percent to €114.
Fourth-quarter RevPAR for Accor's Americas region increased 12.1 percent to €44, while average room rate rose 7.1 percent to €71 and occupancy rose 2.8 percentage points to 61.5 percent.
The PM&E division posted a 4 percent increase in RevPAR, driven equally by prices and occupancy, while the L&L division saw a 10 percent year-on-year increase in RevPAR for the quarter.
In 2024, Accor opened 293 hotels, corresponding to more than 50,000 rooms. As of December 2024, the group has a portfolio of 5,682 hotel (equivalent to 850,285 rooms) and a pipeline of more than 1,381 properties.
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