Welcome to the Accor Q1 2026 revenue presentation. Today's conference will be hosted by Martine Gerow, Group CFO. For the first part of the conference, the participants will be on listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing #5 on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to Mrs. Gerow. Please go ahead. Welcome to the Accor Q1 2026 revenue presentation. Today's conference will be hosted by Martine Gerow, Group CFO. For the first part of the conference.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining Accor's Q1 trading call. I'll start with the highlights on page three. We entered 2026, keeping pace with the Q4 of 2025, with RevPAR in the mid to high single digits and all regions performing well through February, which demonstrates the attractiveness of our brands and the strength of our diverse portfolio. Despite the conflict in Iran, which impacted our business starting in mid-March in some of the GCC countries, we delivered a strong RevPAR in the Q1, and we picked up the pace on net unit growth. Q1 RevPAR rose a solid 5.1%. March RevPAR remained positive at 1.6%, despite the Iran conflict, with all the regions, again, except some of the GCC performing above our expectations.
The performance in the quarter was mostly driven by price for about two-thirds, with occupancy rate improving by one point. From a business versus leisure standpoint, individual business and group leisure were the most dynamic segments in the quarter. Net unit growth reached 3.8% on a last 12-month basis. That's up from 3.7% at the end of 2025. Pipeline continues to grow at the healthy double-digit growth, +10% in the Q1 on an LTM basis, and that is consistent with our goal of accelerating NUG toward the higher end of our 3%-5% midterm guidance. Turning to revenue, management and franchise revenue grew at 8.3% at constant currency, which is in line with the RevPAR plus net growth algorithm. Group revenue increased by 2.3% at constant currency and 3.8% at constant scope and constant currency.
As always, we remain laser-focused on meeting our commitments, in what is certainly a tougher macro and geopolitical backdrop. On April 1st, we announced the signing of an MoU on the sale of our stake in S&D for a consideration of up to EUR 975 million, with EUR 675 million to be received upfront and up to EUR 300 million in subsequent. Having cleared the insider information pursuant to that transaction, we launched on April 2nd, a first tranche of 225 million of the 450 million 2026 share buyback program. The impact of the conflict in the Middle East is so far mostly felt in the UAE, which accounts for 3% of our network. Saudi and Egypt are holding up and demand in the other regions remains healthy.
Nevertheless, we're closely monitoring the conflict and have already taken measures to both minimize the impact of our results, but also redirecting traffic towards the higher growth market. Let's now turn to slide four and Q1 RevPAR by division. Started with PME, which posted a very resilient RevPAR growth of +4.5%, rate was up 3%, and occupancy rate was up 1 point at 62%. ENA posted a solid 2.7% RevPAR. That's an acceleration from the Q4 of 2025, and that was driven by occupancy and exceeded our expectations for the Q1, with France and the U.K. posting growth in line with the Q4. In France, Paris grew RevPAR in the mid-single digit, demonstrated the continued attractiveness of the destination, and the province was also solid. In the U.K., demand remained solidly in the low single digit in both London and the region.
In Germany, RevPAR turned slightly negative over the quarter, with demand highly correlated to events and fair activity with a calendar that was weaker in the Q1. In MEA-PAC, Q1 RevPAR rose 5.5%, nearly all driven by rates. The impact of the conflict was again concentrated in the UAE in March. Southeast Asia accelerated in the Q1 with RevPAR in the high single digit as Thailand and Indonesia returned to positive territory, bouncing back from last year's demand softness. Singapore and Japan also posted solid RevPAR growth. MEA-T posted a positive mid-single-digit RevPAR growth overall in the Q1, with March RevPAR turning negative in the high single digit. UAE was down high single digit in the Q1, while Saudi remained positive. Pacific maintained its strong momentum with a high single digit RevPAR growth in the Q1.
China continues to sequentially improve, posting a negative low double-digit growth in the quarter as our portfolio in China is mostly eco midscale. Americas posted another strong quarter with RevPAR up 9.1%. The area is mostly driven by Brazil, as you know, which continued to post low double-digit RevPAR growth in the period. Turning to luxury and lifestyle, RevPAR growth was a solid 6%, with rate up 4% in the Q1, and occupancy up one point at 61%. Luxury continued to outperform as a segment, with Q1 RevPAR at 6.8%, with rates up 5% and occupancy up one point, with all brands exceeded our expectation in the Q1, despite the slowdown in March. Demand was particularly strong in the Americas and Europe. Lifestyle grew RevPAR by 4.2%, with rates up 4% and occupancy flat.
This segment was more impacted by the conflict given the geographic mix, although we have started seeing some demand being redirected to Egypt and Turkey in late March and early April. Lifestyle collective hotels posted a high single-digit RevPAR growth, in line with the Q4 of 2025. Turning to slide five, which breaks down our hotel portfolio and pipeline by division. PME sustained its 3% network growth on an LTM basis in the Q1, and continued its move to franchise, with 53% of its portfolio franchised in the Q1, which is up two points from the Q1 of 2025. As usual, for our Q1, Q1 2026 pace of opening was moderate, but included two notable large openings in Saudi Arabia in March. Pipeline continued to pick up pace, up 12.4% on an LTM basis, mostly driven by the MEAPAC region.
Notable signings included the Grand Mercure in Phu Quoc in Vietnam and Ibis Brookfield City Hotel in Australia. The M&F revenue per room was stable in the quarter at EUR 1,200 per room. Luxury and lifestyle accelerated its network growth at 8.8% on an LTM basis, with both segments picking up pace from last year, benefiting in particular from the lower churn as we expected. To note that lifestyle network growth approached 20% on an LTM basis in the quarter. Pipeline for luxury and lifestyle grew 3.7% and stands at 44% of the network, which is up one point from December of 2025. The M&F revenue is also stable at EUR 4,000 per room. At group level, therefore, NUG reached 3.8% on an LTM basis, which is again slightly above where we finished the year.
Conversions represented 67% of openings in the Q1, again demonstrating the strength of our brands and geographies. For the group, again, the pipeline was up double digit at 10.3% in volume, with again, a record level of signings in value in the quarter. Now let's turn to slide six with revenue by segment. As always, you will find the details of the revenue by segment and by division in the appendix, as well as the press release. The group's revenue reached EUR 1.313 billion in the Q1, up 2.3% at constant currency versus prior. The reported decrease at -2.7% is negatively impacted by FX, notably the U.S. dollar, which represents about 50% of the FX impact in the quarter. We also had a negative scope effect of 1.4% from the disposal of our Paris Society festive and events businesses.
On a like-for-like basis, revenue in the quarter was up 3.8%. Management and franchise revenue grew by 8.3% at constant currency, again in line with the expected algorithm from RevPAR and NUG. Revenue in hotel assets and other was down 4.4% at constant currency. The solid trading activity in Australia and Brazil within PME was more than offset by the disposal that I just referred to, as well as the lower activity in our Rikas restaurant portfolio in Dubai, obviously highly impacted since the beginning of the conflict. If we exclude the disposal, hotel assets and other revenue on a like-for-like basis with constant scope and constant currency was up 3.3%. SMDL, which stands for sales, marketing, distribution, and loyalty, revenue was up 6.2% at constant currency, and to note that we had an exceptionally strong Q1 last year.
Reimburse costs are flat, and as a reminder, this is absolutely a pure pass-through with no impact on EBITDA. Turning to management and franchise on slide seven, again, +8.3% in the Q1. Thanks to a strong performance in luxury and lifestyle, as you can see here at +15%, we were able to absorb in the Q1 the impact of the flip to franchise in PME, as well as a more prudent approach to incentives. As for M&F fees, incentives accounted for 31% of our fees in the quarter. PME management and franchise revenue was up +4.3% at constant currency. The distortion is mainly related to the switch from management to franchise contract, which impacted the Q1 by about one point.
Now, that is half of what we had experienced in 2025, where the impact was two point and in line with what we had shared with you, but also a more prudent approach to incentives given the uncertainty around the Middle East. Luxury and lifestyle M&F revenue grew at 15% at constant currency. That's in line with the growth algorithm from RevPAR and NUG. The cautiousness or prudence regarding the development of the conflict, and therefore incentives, was offset in the quarter by some termination fees. To conclude this presentation, and before we move to Q&A, on slide eight, our business weathered the storm in the Q1, thanks to the resilience of our portfolio and an excellent start of the year. Outside of the UAE, the demand was solid in March and trending in line with January and February.
Clearly, the situation is very fluid, but the demand remains structurally healthy. Just to note that more recently, schools have reopened in the UAE and air traffic is also increasing in the GCC. In light of the situation, nevertheless, we have reacted very quickly, both redirecting our investments towards more supportive markets and activating, in March, a group-wide profit protection plan to protect margin and to mitigate the impact of lower trading on our EBITDA. We accelerate development in growth markets, notably in India, which you know is a priority market for Accor. Just to share with you that the pipeline in India has gained significant momentum in the last 6 months, with 46 hotels that we have signed or under MOU across the PME and the luxury portfolio in the last 6 months, which is 63% of the existing network in India.
Clearly accelerating the pace of development in a very strategic market. Finally, as a reminder, we launched the first tranche of the 2026 share buyback on April 2nd, as I said in my introduction. I will now turn the floor over to you for the Q&A session.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six. The next question comes from Jarrod Castle from UBS. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good afternoon, evening, everyone. Maybe three from me, but thanks for that. Can you say anything in terms of your medium term EBITDA guidance of 9%-12%? If you're still happy with that and what you're seeing at the moment? Secondly, obviously the pipeline's up, but the portfolio that was actually down versus the year-end. Is this just Q1 seasonality where there's a lot of churn or is there anything else going on? It was only very slightly down, but if you can just give a bit of color, why it was slightly down, broadly flat. Just lastly, obviously you've launched the buyback. Can you just give a quick update how much you've done, and should we expect a follow-on sometime in July with the half year results? Thanks.
Thanks, Jarrod, for your question. As you know, we do not communicate annual guidance until July when we release our H1 results. With respect to the midterm guidance for 2023 to 2027, that guidance is still there, and we'll give you more precision in July. What I will say, though, is that, at this point in time, I'm comfortable with where the consensus is on RevPAR and EBITDA. With respect to the pipeline, Q1 is always very soft, right? Because as you know, our openings are mostly in the H2 and actually a lot of them are in the Q4, so you always have a very low, if not flattish, growth in the Q1. Actually, last year, in the Q1 of 2025, we were negative. With respect to the buyback, yes, we have started the buyback.
As of so far, we have bought EUR 41 million, which is about 900,000 shares at about EUR 44 price. Yes, we have committed to a EUR 450 million share buyback program. As we usually do, we tend to do the H1 in the first semester and H2 in the second semester.
All right. Thanks very much.
The next question comes from Jaina Mistry from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi, Martine. Good evening. Three questions from me, if I may. The first question is around RevPAR. TUI reported softer summer bookings when they reported yesterday. I know you said other markets were holding up outside the Middle East, but have you seen any cracks in bookings or in RevPAR in Europe or Asia from your on the books? The second question is around EBITDA. Just, in light of the significant RevPAR declines in the Middle East, your restaurants are shut. Do you expect EBITDA in H1 to grow? For full year EBITDA consensus, I know you mentioned you're comfortable with consensus, and I was quite surprised by that. Could you maybe walk us through why you're happy with consensus, where you see consensus, and just the drivers of operating leverage to quantify the cost savings?
Just help us understand the moving parts here, because there are some very big moving parts given the politics. Thank you.
Hi, Jaina. With respect to your first question on do we see any cracks in demand? We don't see any cracks in demand. As you know, obviously there's not a ton of visibility with respect to given the booking windows. However, when we look at the room on the books, we don't see any crack in demand outside of, again, the Middle East and in particular the UAE. Actually if anything, so NR, Europe is holding up. Actually within Europe, we see a pickup in the Med, so Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece. Morocco is another country where we're seeing pickup. Similar to TUI, we do see a lower pickup in Cyprus, Turkey, and mainly, but that's very slight. Again, this is a very small part of our portfolio, but it's minor. It's really flattish to low single digit.
The rest of the NI, and actually NI overall, is a positive in terms of pickup with room on the books. Asia is still performing quite well. America's performing quite well. Canada is really performing very well when we look at the room on the books. The U.S. is also performing well. Really no cracks in demand. With respect to the consensus, I think the consensus on RevPAR is 2.3%, right? If you take consensus plus the consensus on NUG, which is around, I think, 3.9%, that gives you basically a 6%+ total, which should translate into M&F revenue growth, and therefore, given our profit protection plan, which we have, again, initiated in March. You take a bit lower RevPAR, which is about one point, right?
If you look at consensus versus the low end of the guidance, and you take the profit protection plan, basically that means that we'll be able to reach that consensus, which is about, on a reported basis, I think that's about a 6% growth in EBITDA at current rates.
On the question around H1 EBITDA, do you expect that to grow?
We don't guide on H1 EBITDA, but it will be up.
Okay. Would you mind quantifying the cost protection plan?
No, I'm not going to. I'll tell you that. You may recall last year that we had a profit protection plan that we initiated in the H2. The profit protection plan we are activating or have activated, we started obviously earlier, so that gives you a sense for what that could be.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you.
The next question comes from Muneeba Kayani from BofA. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks, Martine, for taking my questions. Just on the Middle East, so thank you for pointing out March RevPAR. Would it be possible for you to indicate to us what you're seeing in April and May based on your bookings and so far? Secondly, also on the Middle East, in terms of development activity, what are you seeing right now on the ground? Just on the report that was on the hotel network, and you'd announced that you'd started internal and external investigations. Is it possible to give a little bit more color on what you've learned so far? Thank you.
Hi, Muneeba. I'll actually start with that last question. We're still conducting the internal and external investigations, and we expect to be completed with those investigations sometime in May. As we communicated, we'll share the conclusions of those, not just of these investigations, but also any actions that we feel we would need to take going forward to reinforce this. With respect to the Middle East, so what we see in April, frankly, is a greater impact in the UAE because the UAE in March, because basically tourists couldn't come home, the impact was not 100% felt in March. What we see is we see Egypt and Saudi really holding up to where we had expected them. It's just really the UAE, and the UAE is obviously with lower occupancy rate in the, let's call it, 20%-30% in April.
Now, the good thing is, or the encouraging thing is that the Emirates have decided to reopen the schools. We're seeing also a reopening of the airspace, which should encourage traffic to the region and hopefully through the region as well. With respect to NUG, I think it's way too early to tell whether that will have an impact or not. You should keep in mind that with respect to our openings, they're mostly in Saudi and in Egypt, so we actually have very, very few openings in the Emirates this year. Most of our openings, actually, two-thirds of our openings are usually in the Q4, and 2026 is no different.
One thing I also would like to point out, back to Jaina's question, you have to keep in mind that the activity in the Middle East is the strongest. The big quarters are the Q1 and the Q4, right? We essentially run through the Q1, and I think if we assume that the tensions are going to ease sometime around the summer, then that should protect the Q4 in that region. Thank you.
The next question comes from Estelle Weingrod from JPM. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. I've got two questions. The first one, there are some concerns on potential jet fuel shortages and potential flight cancellations and so on into the summer. I'd like to know what's your take on this. If we get there, is Europe perhaps more sustained or resilient versus other regions like Southeast Asia? My second question is on branded residential. Given the ongoing events in the Middle East, how likely is it to see some of these projects being postponed? Thank you.
Hi, Estelle. With respect to the jet fuel shortages, you have to recall that when it comes to source of travel or source of traffic, if you look at the Europe region, over 80% is within Europe region. If you look at Southeast Asia, over 70% is again within the region. To some extent, that protects us from, let's say, what could happen to fuel shortages or airline prices, for that matter. When we look at room on the books in the summer, we're really not seeing any signs of lower demand in any region, frankly, obviously, bar some of the GCC markets. With respect to the branded residencies, again, probably too early to tell. Could there be some of those openings that move into the 2027? Frankly, it's too early to tell at this point.
Again, a lot of these are in the Q4. I mean, sorry, in the H2.
Okay. Thanks.
The next question comes from Alex Brignall from Rothschild & Co Redburn. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking the question. I just have one really on Essendi. Could you just go into a little bit of detail as to where we are contractually with that transaction? I know at the time it was not specifically binding, but if you could talk about where you are, what the things are that need to be completed before we'll get the completed announcement and what the, you said Q3 for timeframe, but whether we would hear anything else before then. Thank you so much.
Hey, Alex. Well, look, we're still in the same place that we were when we released our press release. Obviously, the fact that we released a press release on an MOU was a sign of our confidence in getting that transaction across the line, which we hope to do sometimes with a signed MOU sometime in the Q2. We'll have to go through regulatory approvals that should take us in the Q3.
Thank you so much.
The next question comes from Sabrina Blanc from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good evening, Martine. Two questions from my part. The first one is regarding the measures that you have taken. Can you provide more clarity to provide example and just to understand what you have put in place since the beginning of the year compared to what has been done in the second part of 2025? Because I understood that the part of cost had been postponed at the time in 2025. The second question is regarding the switch of hotels from managed to franchise. You have mentioned 1% impact this quarter. Could you go more in detail for the remaining part of the year, excluding Essendi, and after that remaining as the impact for Essendi?
Good evening, Sabrina. Sure. In terms of the measures, there's really two broad categories, right? One, obviously, measures in the impacted markets. I would say that about half of the plan is in those impacted markets, and half of the plan is frankly in other parts of the group. The measures are very, I would say, similar to what we did in the H2 of 2025. Essentially constraining the cost and constraining the investments. We are also very careful of still maintaining investments in the markets, where we have good demand. Actually, we have redirected some of the investments away from the Middle East into other markets. With respect to the flip to franchise, we expect about one point of distortion, in 2026, which is again, half of what we experienced in 2025. Essendi will not impact 2026, given the timing of the transaction.
As we indicated, I think in the press release, the impact of the move to franchise of the Essendi portfolio is going to be gradual over several years. Again, as we indicated when we announced that MOU, it does not in any way impact our ability to meet our midterm algorithm as it was factored in that algorithm.
The next question comes from Jaafar Mestari from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon. two questions, please. The first one on Middle East, if you could please recap the current trends. Obviously, March was impacted gradually. In April, there's also a positive Ramadan calendar shift, if I'm correct. For as long as this continues in the current state, what revenue impact should we assume for the UAE, please? I heard you say a -20% number. I'm not quite sure, -20%, -30%, what you were referencing. Turkey and Saudi, is it flattish right now? Second question, once we have that, your published EBITDA sensitivity, if I'm correct, is EUR 7 million- EUR 8 million for each point of group RevPAR. But obviously, it's a lot more difficult to offset these big numbers, and the Middle East has a skew to higher ADRs and to management contracts as well, wouldn't it?
Can we still, more or less, use the EUR 7 million-EUR 8 million, or can we not use it, but thanks to the profit protection plan, we can. What's the logic there? Thank you.
Sure. Hi, Jaafar. The 20%-30s that I was referring to is the occupancy rate in the UAE, so in Dubai, essentially, in April. With respect to the
The occupancy.
Yes, the occupancy.
... total RevPAR, please, would be clearly useful.
Yeah. Total RevPAR is down much more than that in the UAE. It's actually, you're right. I mean, KSA, it very much depends on when the Ramadan is. What I will say on KSA, so Saudi, is that the Ramadan activity was as we expected it, and we see the drop-off from Ramadan, frankly, as per seasonality. No change there. Egypt, actually, we see occupancy again, as we expected. There's some redirecting of traffic, actually, from the lifestyle resorts into Egypt. Turkey, we haven't talked about Turkey, but actually Turkey, we're starting to see the pickup from seasonality again as we expect. It's really the UAE that stays impacted and obviously will be more in April than was in March, given the timing of the conflict.
With respect to the algorithm, that algorithm is, you're right, it's an average algorithm, but given the profit protection plan that we have in place, that algorithm stands.
Super. Just we don't need to use something different, but equally, we shouldn't double count.
Correct.
EUR 7 million-EUR 8 million.
Correct.
Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Simon Lechipre from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Simon Lechipre, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead. The next question comes from Jamie Rollo from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question. Two, please. First of all, can I just double-check in the context of your full year EBITDA commentary that you're still expecting SMDL margins of around 6%. I know they were a bit higher last year, but you're not factoring in a big upward surprise on that line, are you? Secondly, and I may have missed it, apologies, are you still expecting net unit growth to begin with a 4% at the full year this year? Thank you.
Hi, Jamie. Yes. On SMDL, I confirm that we hold to the 6%+ margin. With respect to NUG, as I've said, it's really too early to say, because again, 2/3 of our openings are in the Q4, which is good news, because hopefully by then the tensions will have eased considerably.
Okay. Thank you.
Simon Lechipre, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good afternoon. Three, please. First of all, the pricing strategy with the rise in oil price and FL going up. Do you expect the industry to react with some pricing cut to sort of stimulate demand into the summer? Secondly, on the Middle East, I think a meaningful part of your hotel asset and other division is exposed to the region with your restaurant business. So can you remind us how much of the division is exposed to Middle East? And my understanding is that the restaurants are still open, but I assume there's probably not much activity. So what sort of drop through from the revenue loss should we expect? And to what extent you're able to reduce your cost base and do you get any support from government? And last one, if you can update us on the FX impact that you expect for the full year.
Thank you.
Hi, Simon. With respect to rates, the only frankly rate pressure we see is really in the UAE where rates are clearly down. We're not seeing that pressure elsewhere, frankly, and we're not seeing that when we look at the summer bookings thus far. In terms of the Middle East, our restaurant business in the Middle East, which is, I guess, is about 10% of the hotel assets and other revenue for the group total, right? 10% of the group hotel assets and other revenue. Obviously, this is a business actually that is, because of where it's located, which is in Dubai, you can actually take the cost down very quickly because essentially, you can dismiss staff quite quickly as well. Our restaurants are open. Interestingly enough, our restaurants are actually doing fairly well during the weekends.
It's a bit slower during the week, but since the last week or so, traffic has actually picked up in those restaurants because people in Dubai are actually starting to go back into the malls and on the streets. With respect to FX seems to be a bit more of our friend this year than it was last year, mainly because of the AUD, Australian dollar, which actually is a bit stronger, and therefore we expect the FX impact to be less than the EUR 30 million that we had shared with you in February. That's assuming that, of course, rates stay at the current level.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to Mrs. Gerow for any closing remarks.
Thank you. Well, again, thank you for attending the call, and thank you for your questions. I wish everyone a good evening.