The world’s sixth largest hotel chain, Accor has announced that it will be cutting 1,000 jobs worldwide as a part of the company’s major cost cutting plan to tide over economic crisis posed by COVID.
The group, which runs high-end chains such as Raffles and Sofitel and budget brands like Ibis, plans to cut costs by 200 million euros by 2022.
According to news reports, the pandemic has led to the closure of several Accor hotels around the world and 1,000 of the group’s 18,000 employees will lose their jobs.
Besides, Accor posted half-year net losses of 1.5 billion euros ($ 1.7 billion) against profits of 141 million euros during the same period last year. The company’s turnover plunged to 917 million euros.
Accor Chief Executive Officer Sebastien Bazin said, “The shock that our industry is experiencing is both violent and unprecedented. Against this backdrop, we have managed to limit the impact of the crisis: on our performance by taking immediate steps to protect our resources and, thanks to the Group recent years transformation and our sound financial structure; on our employees by implementing concrete and immediate support measures.”
“The peak of the crisis is undoubtedly behind us, but the recovery will be gradual. Having taken these emergency steps, we must now finish the job from an asset-light model to a full asset-light company. Beyond Covid-19, this is essential. Accor must become simpler, leaner, more agile and even closer to the field. These initiatives will enable us to extend our leadership, make our decision process more efficient and boost our recovery. They will be implemented with transparency and candor and, in a spirit true to our values of solidarity and commitment,” he added.
