Editor’s Note

A few weeks ago, AccorHotels gained quite a bit of attention when it confirmed it had an interest in potentially buying the French government’s stake in Air France-KLM. Some people wondered if CEO Sebastien Bazin’s frenetic M&A strategy had finally gone off the rails.

The truth is Bazin is having Accor take a look at all kinds of investments, making it one of the more interesting companies in hospitality, if not all of travel, to watch these days. Senior Hospitality Editor Deanna Ting sat down in early June with Guarav Bhushan, the Accor executive overseeing all this M&A strategy, to make some sense of what can seem like an unfocused, scattershot approach to deals. Once you read her story, we’re sure you’ll have a better grasp of what Accor is trying to do, and realize that it is no longer a “sleeping giant.”

— Tom Lowry, Managing Editor