More than 130 hotels in 12 countries or more than 20,000 rooms, more than 50 restaurants. This is Orbis, which is currently 85.8% owned by Accor.

The hotel group is taking one more step in its asset-light strategy by separating its hotel services activity from its real estate assets. Accor has thus decided to acquire the services activity of Orbis for 286 million € (1.2 billion zlotys). The group is simultaneously trying to dispose of the walls it currently owns.

Orbis continues to grow in Eastern Europe particularly in Romania as explained in this article (French only). Central European destinations offer an attractive growth vector for the number 6 worldwide on emerging markets that are in full growth, Poland is in the lead (+4.5% growth in number of keys in 2017). Accor is the leading chain operator at the destination with 12,155 rooms or 34.4% of the chain supply in the country on January 1, 2018 (see data on Central Europe in the European Hospitality Report annual report - supply and demand - on Europe's hotel industry).

Gilles Clavie, president and CEO Orbis remarked on this agreement: 

For 20 years, Orbis has relied on Accor, our strategic partner and shareholder. By separating the two businesses and signing a long-term management agreement, we will be able to valorise our assets by selling them to Accor. We will then focus our attention on Orbis's core activity, real estate operations, which is written into its DNA. Once this transition is complete, Orbis, [...] with its portfolio of 72 owned hotels, will be ready to enter a new growth period while sharing the same strategy with a new shareholder.