• At the Global Lodging Forum 2017, Arnaud Fayet, outgoing president of the Accor Franchise Association, asked for mediation. One year later, has the relationship been pacified or clarified?

Arnaud Fayet, outgoing president of the Accor Franchise Association: "It is true that one year ago, the Accor Franchise Association asked for mediation to initiate a new dialogue with the franchisor. We had identified a number of dysfunctions between the franchisors and ourselves. The franchisees voted 97% in favour of this mediation to get a fresh start with our franchisors. This mediation was quite short in duration as we had requested. It took place between late September and early November. We held little more than 30 hours of meetings with our franchisors. We tried to cover all possible themes including distribution, loyalty, purchasing, marketing and IT. To date, not everything has been resolved, but everything has been reviewed. At the end of this mediation, we drew up a set specifications with working guidelines, and today some points have been resolved while others will be resolved during this year 2018. I would say it was neither a success nor a failure."

• Do you have the feeling that there is a new deal between the owner, the franchisee and the brand and the franchisor?

Christine Garnier, AccorHotels: "Unlike Arnaud[Fayet], I would say that it was not a failure. On the contrary. It was pretty good. It was almost like going to couples’ therapy. I think there were things that were not said, not understood, and that needed to be discussed again. We started on a new foundation. We are preparing the year 2018 with workshops, with meetings, to co-construct on certain subjects and better exchange. There has been a major communication problem in recent years. This is being addressed very strongly. There...