Thibault Viort, chief disruption and growth officer, AccorHotels
ACCORHOTELS has appointed a ‘chief disruption and growth officer’, signalling its continued drive to change with the times.
The C-level role, a first for the global hotel industry, is held by Thibault Viort, “a serial entrepreneur who built up his first business at age 22”, according to an AccorHotels statement.
His ventures included creating Facebook’s first online games under IsCool Entertainment in 2008 then specialising in tourism from 2009 after creating Wipolo and transforming City Vox.
Viort’s role is to track down new growth opportunities in order to foster the emergence of new entrepreneurs within and outside the group; oversee investments or acquisitions in emerging activities; and reinforce interactions with start-ups that re-invent the sector “at a time when the current networking of humanity shakes up every sector (including) the hospitality industry”, said the AccorHotels statement.
Its chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said he was building up “new streams of activity…to create value and enhance creativity in the way we conduct our business”.
Accor just bought onefinestay on April 5 for €148 million (US$167 million), after acquiring a 49 per cent stake in Squarebreak and 30 per cent in Oasis Collections in February. This gives it a foothold in the sharing economy space, which has grown exponentially since Airbnb was founded in 2008.
Last year, it also acquired France-based Fastbooking, which gives it yet another new stream. Fastbooking provides more than 4,000 hotels with website development, channel management, digital marketing, revenue management and competitive intelligence.
Accor is also completing its acquisition of FRHI Holdings, announced last December, which will bring the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel brands into its fold. This plugs the luxury/upscale gap for the chain.
Asked what he would like to buy next, Bazin, in an email interview, said: “AccorHotels has an opportunistic approach in M&A in every area of action: asset-light hotel companies, hotel real estate, but also digital, F&B….provided this is accretive and in line with what AccorHotels has implemented over the past three years.
“On the digital side, we are looking at start-ups that are developing state-of-the art technologies following two angles: either to improve hotel performances or to enrich customer experience.”
