Company of the month:
Accor
The Company of the Month is selected due to recent developments and in connection
with the topic ”Tourism”. The EAM Responsible Investments team analyses the strenghts
and weaknesses of the selected company in terms of ESG.
With about 460,000 rooms in more than 3,500 hotels, Accor is one of the biggest hotel chains in the world. Its
portfolio ranges from luxury hotels such as Sofi tel to budget options like ibis and F1 Hotel. In contrast to its
competitors like Wyndham or Intercontinental, which rely strongly on franchise models, Accor operates the majority
of its properties in-house. Thus the company bears both the holding as well as the directly operational responsibility
for the sustainable management of its hotels. Accor has expanded its sustainability programme “Planet 21” which
defines numerous goals in the most important risk areas across all franchisees. Accor holds the highest rating
among all the hotel operators in the Erste Asset Management SRI universe (C+).
The company
Accor recorded sales of EUR 2.6bn in the fi rst half
offiscal 2014. During this period, the company opened
12.300 new rooms in 92 new hotels. The group employs
over 160.000 people in 92 countries.
Resources
Accor has set the goal of cutting its energy consumption by 10% by the year 2015. At the same time, water
consumption is meant to decline by 15% on the back of the usage of rainwater. These measures will cause costs
to fall and are also attractive to the growing market of conservation-minded customers. Accor’s endeavors to
invest in Ecodesign* are headed in the same direction. While the sector generally is striving for a higher degree
of resource effi ciency, Accor excels thanks to its ambitious goals and the quality and transparency of
implementation.
Social engagement
In cooperation with the French NGO Agrisud, Accor supports the development of fragmented agricultural
subsistence structures around its hotels in developing countries. The company also constitutes a stable purchaser
of parts of their production. In addition, Accor is involved in numerous campaigns for the protection of children.
Personnel management
Personnel management represents the company’s Achilles heel in terms of sustainability among the rated hotel
operators. However, generating 77% of sales in Europe, the company mainly operates in countries with stable
working rights, which limits the risk in this area. Although the company was sentenced by a French court in
May 2014 on the grounds of illegal compensation practices, it still stands out positively in comparison with the
sector. The group invests heavily in training and attaches great importance to equal rights. This is proved by
a rising share of women in management (currently 41%).
(Dominik Benedikt)
* The Umweltbundesamt (Federal German Environment Agency) defi nes eco design as an approach that pursues the goal of reducing
environmental pollution across the entire life cycle by improving product design.
