Accor has further upgraded its annual profit projections to almost €1 billion following strong demand in the third quarter of the financial year.
The guidance for consolidated earnings [ebitda] has been raised from between €930 million-€970 million to €955 million-€985 million.
The follows guidance originally being increased in July on the back growth in the first half the French group’s financial year.
The revised expectation is based on performance over the first nine months of the year “and considering the known-to-date macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties”, the company said.
Accor saw the key metric of revenue per available room (revpar) rise by 15% in the third quarter based on “very strong” demand.
This came as revenue rose by 13% year-on-year to €1.3 billion, with growth in the luxury segment of 17% outstripping the 13% increase achieved by premium, midscale and economy hotels.
Revpar trends in the UK were comparable with France thanks to the influx of international tourists which benefited London more than other cities, the company reported.
However, currency effects had a negative impact of €98 million, stemming mainly from the Australian dollar (-11%), the US dollar (-7%) and the Turkish lira (-38%).
Accor said: “The underlying dynamics observed in previous quarters remained constant, with average price still high and a marked improvement in the occupancy rate which slightly lags the level of 2019.
“All regions and segments contributed through solid operating performances, even if the first signs of normalisation of activity growth are materialising after several quarters of intense recovery.”
The group added 73 hotels or 9,200 rooms during the three months, giving a total of 5,537 properties with 812,455 rooms at the end of September, with a pipeline of around 219,000 rooms (1,273 hotels).
Chairman and chief executive Sebastien Bazin said: “The group’s strong performance during the quarter illustrates once again the strength of business momentum in all of our markets, notably in Asia, and for the brands in our two segments: premium, midscale and economy, on the one hand, and luxury and lifestyle on the other.
“This is the sixth consecutive quarter of growth since the return to post-pandemic business levels.
“These positive trends and our strict financial and operational discipline enable us, once again, to raise our revpar and ebitda guidance for the year.”