Accor unveils hotel strategy to boost performance

PARIS - Accor, Europe's largest hotel group, said on Wednesday it was dividing its hotel business in two in a bid to improve the group's performance and shareholder returns.

Three months after becoming chief executive of Accor, former private equity boss Sebastien Bazin said he was splitting Accor into a hotel operator and franchisor that will be fee-oriented, and a hotel owner and investor. "I want Accor to become the world's best-performing and best-value hotel group," Bazin told journalists.

Bazin did not provide any targets under his plan but said those set under a three-year revamp initiated a year ago by predecessor Denis Hennequin were no longer valid. "We are banking on returns well above the previous plan," he said.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by James Regan)