French hotel group, Accor yesterday announced its revenue remained ‘favorable’ for the company in Q1 and Q2 of this year.

French hotel group, Accor yesterday announced its revenue remained ‘favorable’ for the company in Q1 and Q2 of this year.

Business remained good for most of the group’s markets in the first half of the year, with revenue totalling €2,593m, representing a 2.8% increase on a like-for-like basis and a 1.8% decline.

HotelInvest, the group’s hotel owner and investor unit saw revenue rise 1.6% to €2,286m. Good revenue growth was experienced across the group in every region except France, which was down 1.8%. Demand in France was particularly impacted by a three point increase in VAT, which came into effect January 1.

HotelServices, the group’s hotel operator and franchiser unit experienced a rise of 5% in business volume, excluding the currency impact, to €5.7bn, which was led by expansion in emerging markets.

This area of the business also benefited from a 5.7% like-for-like increase in revenue to €582m, with sharp improvement in America (up 10.8%); the Mediterranean, Middle East and African region (up 10.1%) and Northern, Central and Eastern Europe (up 5%).

In the first half of the year, Accor opened 12,284 new rooms across 92 hotels worldwide. Of these new openings, 90% are under management and franchise agreements.

Sébastien Bazin, chairman and chief executive officer, said: “Accor saw good momentum in the first half despite a French market that continued to be unfavourably impacted by changes in tax legislation. HotelServices pursued its expansion in fast-growing regions and HotelInvest strengthened its position as Europe’s leading hotel investor with the recently completed acquisition of 97 hotels in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.”