Like several executives inside and outside of the travel industry, notably Bill Gates, Bazin in 2022 suggested at least some of the corporate travel cutbacks companies implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic were permanent. Bazin at the time suggested projections that international business travel would remain at least 20 percent below pre-pandemic levels "could probably last forever" because "of our capacity via Zoom, WebEx and Teams to be able to connect yourself without going onto a very long journey" compared with "the agony of crossing the frontiers with all the paperwork you will have to do."

I was wrong three years ago when I said we're probably going to stand to lose 25 percent of corporate travel forever because of this ability to work remotely."

Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin

Thursday, he sang a different tune. "I was wrong three years ago when I said we're probably going to stand to lose 25 percent of corporate travel forever because of this ability to work remotely," Bazin said. "We are already at 90 percent of the level of 2019. So they're not only coming back, but they're coming back much quicker than I ever expected."

Bazin projected an additional average 8 percent year-over-year increase in 2024 business travel spending "from major corporate organizations."

Still, he noted the nature of post-pandemic business travel has changed from the past. 

"It's a different mix," Bazin said. "It's less people going alone from Seattle to Singapore, it's less people having 500 [attendee] seminar organization groups. It's spread over 10 cities of 50 people each and they go on Microsoft and all the systems where they can regroup together, even though they are in different locations. So smaller groups, greater numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises, but it is a very strong component of Accor and the rest of my peers."

Accor's Q4 Performance

Accor's systemwide fourth-quarter revenue per available room increased 11.1 percent year over year to €73, while average daily rate increased 6.7 percent to €111 and occupancy increased 2.6 percentage points to 65.8 percent. Full-year 2023 systemwide RevPAR increased 22.7 percent year over year to €73, while ADR increased 11.8 percent to €110 and occupancy grew 6 percentage points to 66 percent.

Total 2023 Accor revenue increased 20 percent year over year—18 percent on a like-for-like basis at constant currency—to nearly €5.1 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 49 percent year over year (55 percent like-for-like) to €1 billion.

The company projected a compound annualized RevPAR increase of 3 percent to 4 percent through 2027. January 2024 systemwide RevPAR was "solid" and "in line with our expectations," said Accor CFO Martine Gerow on the call.