Emmanuelle Tulliez : Accor changed its strategy this year. What were your objectives, and where do you stand on the roadmap?

Patrick Mendes : We haven't changed our strategy, but we have adapted our organisation.

So today Accor is organised around two major divisions:

• Luxury lifestyle, which brings together the 500 hotels you know under luxury brands such as Sofitel, Fairmont and Raffles. As well as all the Ennismore brands such as Mama Shelter, The Hoxton, Delano and all the other brands we have acquired over the last 10 years. 
• Then there is a division that we call premium midscale and economy, which includes the other 5,000 hotels that Accor operates today.  These 5,000 hotels are organised on a multi-brand basis. They range from Swissôtels to Pullman, Mövenpick, Novotel, Mercure, the ibis family, Adagio, greet etc...  

These 5,000 hotels are divided into three major regions: the Americas region, which includes around 400 hotels; the Europe North Africa region, which includes around 3,000 hotels that I manage; and the Middle East Asia Pacific region. China is a bit different, managed as a fully integrated business unit, from luxury to lifestyle, as well as premium and eco. 

Emmanuelle Tulliez : These brands have a strong value and history, so how do you preserve them while adapting them to today's customer expectations?

Patrick Mendes : This was one of the key drivers behind the reorganisation. As John Rogers mentioned earlier, with the various integrations or when we were talking earlier about our competitors who have carried out major mergers. Accor has almost doubled its network in ten years. We have gone from 15 brands to more than 50. 

Behind this organisation of the two divisions is a support system that we call the Global Share Platform, or GSP. An entity that brings together everything digital, technology, purchasing...