Accor S.A. - New Ventures in the Early 1980s

New Ventures in the Early 1980s

In 1980 Novotel invested in Jacques Borel International, which owned restaurants and the luxury Sofitel hotel chain. Jacques Borel had begun his career with the establishment of one restaurant in 1957 and by 1975, when he took over Belgium's Sofitel chain, he was Europe's top restaurateur. After losses in the hotel business forced Borel to sell the Sofitel chain to Pelisson and Dubrule in 1982, Novotel and its holdings were incorporated under the name Accor and became one of the top ten hotel operators in the world, an elite group typically dominated by American firms. The merger doubled the partners' holdings and infused new talent into the senior management, as Bernard Westercamp became Accor's vice-president and general manager. Sofitel's luxury services, aimed at business and holiday travelers and located in the center of international cities, near airports, and in prestigious tourist areas, introduced Accor to the higher-priced end of the hospitality industry.

Accor's initial expansion into the American market, which began in 1979 with the opening of a hotel in Minneapolis, was not as successful as its ventures in Europe due to a saturated U.S. market and Accor's slow development. The company brought Novotel, Ibis, and Sofitel hotels to the United States, as well as a chain of eateries in California called Seafood Broiler, but all operated at a loss. Nonetheless, Pelisson and Dubrule made American-style service culture fundamental to their business in Europe. After visiting training schools at McDonald's Corporation and Disneyland, they opened Accor Academy at the company headquarters in Évry in 1985. The academy offered seminars ranging from phone etiquette to team-building skills and the exploration of new technologies. Accor spent a reported 2 percent of its annual payroll on training.

During the mid-1980s Accor developed investments in restaurant and travel businesses. The company opened Pizza del Arte, a chain of Italian restaurants, in 1983 in commercial and city centers and entered a partnership with the bakery and catering company Lenôtre two years later. Accor also entered the travel industry during this time, buying into Africatours, the largest tour operator to Africa, which became the third of its major investments, along with hotels and restaurants. The company expanded its tour operations to North and South America, Asia, and the South Pacific through the purchases of Americatours, Asiatours, and Ted Cook's Islands in the Sun. In an effort to attract weekend clientele in Europe, Accor developed Épisodes, an agency specializing in weekend rates for rooms usually occupied by business travelers during the week.

In 1985 Hotec, a subsidiary of Accor, brought forth a completely new idea in the hotel industry with the creation of Formule 1, a one-star budget hotel chain with no reception staff, no restaurant, and no private bathrooms. Travelers simply inserted a credit card at the entrance to gain access to the rooms, which were plain yet practical and cost $15 a night. Formule 1 hotels appealed to vacationing young people and families with limited financial resources. Costs were kept to a minimum by the use of prefabricated construction and staffs of only two to run each 60-room hotel. Occupancy rates were high and ten Formule 1s were in operation by early 1987 with another 30 under construction across Europe.