Accor targets growth in Mexico, Caribbean through luxury experiences
Accor targets growth in Mexico, Caribbean through luxury experiences
French hotel firm builds on its long history in Latin America
As part of Accor's plan to expand its presence in the Caribbean and Latin America, the Raffles Estera East Cape Resort & Residences is slated to open in 2029 in Mexico's Los Cabos region. The opening will mark the brand's debut in North America. (Accor)
https://www.costar.com/article/1804460396/accor-targets-growth-in-mexico-caribbean-through-luxury-experiences?
By Bryan Wroten
CORAL GABLES, Florida — Accor has a long history with Latin American countries, and the French hotel firm is expanding its focus to Mexico and the Caribbean.
In an interview at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit CALA, Accor’s Agnès Roquefort, global chief development officer,o luxury and lifestyle, and Edouard Schwob, senior vice president of development, luxury in the Americas and global for Raffles, Fairmont, and Orient Express, spoke about their company’s expansions and growth plans for the region.
Accor is by far the largest operator in South America, Schwob said. It has more than 400 hotels across the continent, with Brazil having the lion’s share. It’s also present in Columbia, with hotels in Cartagena and Bogota. It entered South America in the 1980s and started growing there before looking more broadly across the region.
“A lot of presence in Colombia and Brazil,” he said. “I would say those are the two main hubs for us in the region, and Mexico has been catching up.”
Mexico is a hotel market that has the U.S. behind it as a driving force, Schwob said. Accor needed to grow its presence in the U.S. to attract Americans’ attention in international markets. Accor's acquisition of the Raffles and Fairmont brands in 2015 as well as the Ennismore deal helped it establish a strong presence in the U.S. with luxury and lifestyle brands.
Since then, Accor has been able to grow from the north down, attracting more guests from the U.S. and Canada heading to the Caribbean and Latin America, and more specifically Mexico, he said.
Organic growth was another factor, and this one takes time to build up, Schwob said.
“We had a fair amount,” he said. “It was just little dots on the map but not like a big presence like some of our competitors, so it was good to be able to catch up on this,” he said.
As Accor looks to further grow its presence in the region, the company is taking a multi-pronged approach. New builds and greenfield projects will continue to be an important way forward, but the current macroeconomic situation makes hotel conversions a faster option for business development, Roquefort said.
Accor’s brand portfolio is adaptive, so more than 50% of its development comes through conversions, even in its lifestyle and luxury segments, she said.
“We have this share of conversion, which is much bigger than our American fellows, and we are very proud of that, to be able to convert faster existing hotels and to convert them into our brands,” Roquefort said.
Partnerships have also proven successful for Accor, Schwob said.
Demand outlook
There are many layers to the travel demand profile in the Caribbean and Latin America, Schwob said. For example, Mexico saw an immediate drop-off in inbound demand after anti-cartel operations earlier this year, and while it took some time to recover, Accor is seeing “perfectly healthy numbers” again, he added.
Counter to that, with fewer people traveling to the Middle East and specifically to Dubai because of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, travelers are looking to vacation elsewhere, and destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America have proven a popular alternative, he said.
In South America, much of the travel demand is domestic, Schwob said. In Brazil, it’s mostly Brazilians traveling around the country, and it’s not heavily affected by what’s going on elsewhere in the world. Argentina sees similar traveler behavior.
“It’s just a lot more localized in a way and doesn’t suffer as much from the global macroenvironment, but it all depends on how long it’s going to last,” he said.
If the price of oil and construction materials stay high, that’s going to affect new hotel supply, which has its own set of effects, Schwob said. In the near-term, the cost of oil is increasing the cost of jet fuel, which leads to higher airfare or canceled flights.
“That’s always a bad thing for tourism, for obvious reasons,” he said. “If that continues, then there will be an impact. It’s not immediate now, but you don’t want this to last too long.”
Growth of luxury and all-inclusive resorts
The long-term trends of consumption in luxury hotel experiences and luxury travel continue to grow, Roquefort said. Investors, partners and hotel owners continue to be confident in the business, and they are looking for new deals to invest in, even with short-term volatility. Luxury revenue per available room continues to grow in a sustainable way.
Because of this steady demand, Accor is doing more and more with its ultra-luxury segments, she said. Raffles is a key hotel brand in the Americas for Accor to grow.
In April, Accor opened its Orient Express hotel in Venice, Roquefort said. It also officially kicked off its Orient Express sailing yacht that has 50-plus suites. Guests can also privatize the yacht to go where they want to, say from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, depending on the season.
It’s not just about the luxury hotel experience but the full luxury travel experience, she said.
“It is one of our major focuses at Accor, to really position ourselves into the travel experiences beyond the hotel,” she said.
Accor’s approach to the all-inclusive space is providing premium luxury experiences, enabled by its management deal with Royal Holiday Group last year, Roquefort said. That added 17 properties to Accor’s portfolio in the region.
The goal is to offer a 360-degree all-inclusive experience, or “what we call an immersive experience with a true luxury service,” she said. That starts with good service at check-in and the guestrooms and continues with exceptional food and beverage as well. For example, the SLS Playa Mujeras in Cancun has several food-and-beverage offerings, and it’s not all commoditized buffets. Instead, there are fine dining options and other exclusive experiences.
Through its Rixos and SLS brands, Accor has built a dedicated all-inclusive platform that mixes its traditional brands with all-inclusive experiences that originated from Rixos in Turkey and the Middle East, she said.
“This is where we have taken a different angle with some partnerships as well as big tour operators that feed the hotel with some very specific clientele,” she said.
It creates an ecosystem, and Accor is able to branch into branded residential properties in a similar way, Schwob said. It works in certain markets where people love the appeal of convenience in a trip, but with the added layers of a lifestyle property and entertainment.
The all-inclusive space has been evolving as more brands move into the space, he said.
“That specific segment has been there for a very long time, but now it’s being rethought and better created for more exclusive experiences,” he said.
Hotel brand CEOs dive into the mystery of why travel demand has spiked
Executives point to broad economic growth, business investment
Hyatt Hotels Corp. President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian (left) speaks alongside Accor Group Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin during a boardroom panel at the NYU IHIF conference. (Bryan Wroten)
https://www.costar.com/article/1973222426/hotel-brand-ceos-dive-into-the-mystery-of-why-travel-demand-has-spiked
By Bryan Wroten
NEW YORK — The global hotel industry is contending with competing narratives of economic challenges paired with resilient travel demand.
During the "View from the boardroom" general session at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum, the chief executive officers at global hotel brand companies shared their takes on why they're optimistic about the health of the travel industry in the face of inflationary pressures and geopolitical disruptions.
After coming out of the pandemic, all hotel segments were flying high, with the lower chain scales leading the way, Hilton President and CEO Chris Nassetta said. Now there’s this K-shaped economy with the higher end doing well, but the middle and lower segments of business have struggled with inflation.
For the last couple of years, the hotel industry has seen results going backward, and that’s hard for the entire industry,, but for hotel owners especially, he said.
However, the situation appears to be shifting given the improving results from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the first two quarters of this year, Nassetta said.
“You’re starting to see what I’ve tried to get people to pick up on as more of a C-shaped economy — C for convergence, where the high end is still doing well, you’re starting to see the mid-chain-scale segments and even the lower chain-scale segments come up,” he said.
That’s being driven by a business-friendly environment, a tax-friendly environment, deregulation, and a massive investment cycle, Nassetta said. That investment includes artificial intelligence and the hyperscalers’ spending on data centers and the infrastructure necessary to support them. There was also the $1.4 trillion infrastructure bill and the $800 billion CHIPS Act, passed years ago, that are having impacts now.
“It’s very stimulative,” he said. “It just takes a long time to work its way into the economy.”
Hyatt Hotels Corp. is smaller than the other companies represented on stage, and it doesn’t have as large a presence in the midscale space, President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said. It has a higher concentration of ,period, higher-rate hotels and higher household income levels.
In this segment, leisure demand has been persistently “extremely strong,” Hoplamazian added.
“We’ve seen really, really durable demand since the recovery started post-COVID,, continuing through last year into this year, so that over 50% of our revenues now are in leisure,” he said, adding that before the pre-pandemic — a period before the company made several acquisitions — that figure was about 35%.
That increase over recent years is not the result of serving fewer business travelers, Hoplamazian said. That’s just the growth Hyatt has seen in leisure revenue.
Hyatt is trying to grow further into the upper-midscale hotel segment because it wants to expand to adjacent segments, not jump to economy or lower midscale, he said. This approach keeps the continuity of the guest base with one contiguous set of offerings.
Last year, the U.S. was flat, China’s hotel demand hadn’t recovered yet, but Europe, the Middle East,, and Southeast Asia were strong. As a result, IHG Hotels & Resorts had a good year, CEO Elie Maalouf said. Now, the U.S. is strong, China is positive again, Europe is good, Southeast Asia is strong but the Middle East is down because of the U.S.-Iran war. The Middle East doesn’t make up a large share of IHG’s portfolio, so the loss in travel demand is manageable.
Every year, there’s going to be something that causes disruption, Maalouf said, specifically calling out the war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs, and others. There will likely be more disruption next year.
“If you have a globally diversified business in a geographic brand sense, you're going to be able to absorb it and move on,” he said.
The demand issue in the Middle East is in recovery now, Maalouf said, recalling a trip to the region he took 10 days ago.
“Honestly, if I didn't bring up the conflict with people there, they weren't talking about it,” he said. “The area is moving on.”
The global hotel industry has the ability to navigate and adapt to disruptions as they come up, said Sébastien Bazin, group chairman and CEO of Accor. Even with its exposure to the Middle East, Accor will likely meet its projections for 2026. Along with cutting some costs, the company also saw travelers who otherwise might have gone to its brands in Dubai or Abu Dhabi instead went to Egypt and Morocco, where Accor has a presence as well.
“I’m only missing one half of those I’ve lost, and in a year, I’m probably going to get another, probably 25% of those I’ve lost to other destinations of Accor because of the loyalty system, because of the brand attractiveness,” he said.
People still want to travel, Bazin said. They’ll just change the destination instead of canceling their trips.
Leisure travelers and business travelers, particularly those at small- and medium-sized businesses, are still finding ways to address their needs, Nassetta said. They may pivot out of airlines to drive to their destinations because even though gas is more expensive, it costs less than flying.
Prior to the war in the Middle East, there were signs the middle-class consumer was doing better, Bazin said. A lot of the investment spending would benefit them. The investors in data centers aren’t the ones actually digging the ditches and building the power facilities and other infrastructure necessary for them. That’s being done by the middle class.
“As that investment cycle continues, it isn’t just hyperscalers and the tech investors that are in the game,” he said. “They can’t be in the game without the middle class.”
A real middle class starts real wage growth, which is how an economy gets going, Bazin said.
There’s a lot of focus on technology companies spending initial capital, but on the other end, there are companies such as Caterpillar that have seen their market caps increase due to demand, Maalouf said.
“They are sold out as long as you can see,” he said.
Spending on artificial intelligence is much broader than people realize, Maalouf said. New York-based technology company Corning has been around for generations and has seen its valuation significantly increase over the last year because companies need more fiber optic cables.
The middle class in the U.S. is bigger than people think, he said, adding that roughly 60% of households own stock, and over 60% own their homes.
“As long as the stock market keeps going, as long as home prices keep increasing, even if you're not getting those increases in your paycheck, you're feeling wealthy,” he said.
Europe is, that by and large, a subsidized economy, Bazin said. That means it will end up with -2% or -2.5% gross domestic product growth, even if everything crashes, because roughly half of the GDP is in the hands of state and public offices, including the health system. If things go well, it will be up 2.5%, but never 5%.
For the last 50 years of available data, numbers show half of the world’s population when traveling ends up in Europe, Bazin said. If 1.5 billion people travel, 750 million go to Europe. They go to Rome, to London, to Paris, and to Saint Tropez.
The world adds another 500 million people every 18 months, so there will be another 2.5 billion people within seven years, he said. That means that 1.5 billion people traveling becomes 2.5 billion traveling, which means an extra 250 million headed to Europe, and those aforementioned cities don’t have that much more capacity.
“So for us, being so exposed to France and to Europe, even without doing anything smart, you’re now going to be the recipient of so many travelers,” he said. “What we need to do is, can we keep them longer? Because they’re coming. Can you get them to stay another day?”
Indonesia represents a hotel investment opportunity
Country sees growth in luxury, rates
People visit Buddhist-themed light installations and large-scale devices on the streets to celebrate Vesak Day on May 30 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/157795935/indonesia-represents-hotel-investment-opportunity?
While tourism in Indonesia is often defined by Bali, the country is now seeing a period where growth is defined by other markets and more specifically by the growth of luxury hotels in those markets.
Speaking on the latest episodes of the CoStar News Hotels podcast, STR's regional vice president in the Asia Pacific region, Jesper Palmqvist, said hotel developers are seeing opportunities to expand luxury offerings in Indonesia.
"You can see some of the new luxury happening in Jakarta, as well," he said. "And rate growth has given them much higher profits, which makes owners happy.
Palmqvist said that high-end hotel rate growth isn't likely to continue forever, and it could be in for some moderation going forward. But it's likely the growth mindset will continue in Indonesia.
"The Indonesian spirit in terms of entrepreneurship and development is quite something," he said.
In other news in the region, Palmqvist noted that hotel demand is settling into a new normal across Japan. While that country's resiliency in light of losing Chinese travelers has been impressive, some markets have fared better than others in a remix of feeder markets.
Tokyo — a favorite of Western travelers — is enjoying record average daily rates while western Japanese markets like Osaka are seeing a performance dip, Palmqvist said. It's also led to differences in length of stay and hotel segment performance.
"The Chinese tend to have a shorter length of stay because it's a shorter trip [to Japan] ... They would have a shorter flight to come over and stay more in the midscale places," he said, noting American travelers favor high-end properties.
For more from STR's Jesper Palmqvist, listen to the podcast embedded above.
Sixteen soccer cities, one global event
CoStar News surveys every World Cup host market ahead of sport’s North American takeover
Fans cheer in Mexico during the March playoff match between Congo and Jamaica to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Congo defeated Jamaica 1-0 in extra time. (Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/430421395/sixteen-soccer-cities-one-global-event?
By CoStar News Staff
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The 2026 FIFA World Cup will span Canada, Mexico and the United States for the first time, turning 16 North American cities into a global soccer stage welcoming the world’s most watched sporting event.
CoStar News examined each host city and what the monthlong tournament could mean for local infrastructure, real estate, tourism and economic development long before the opening match between Mexico and South Africa on June 11.
In the United States, 11 host cities are gearing up for an influx of spending and international visitors alongside hometown crowds. Atlanta’s Mercedes‑Benz Stadium is set to host eight matches with capacity expanded to 75,000, drawing on one of the country’s strongest soccer cultures: Atlanta United has led MLS in attendance for nine straight seasons.
That scale is expected to translate into a sizable economic lift across markets. In Georgia’s capital alone, officials estimate the World Cup could generate about $500 million.
Yet the tournament faces challenges: International travel to North America for the World Cup is pacing lower than originally projected, dampened by high costs and lingering concerns over safety and access.
The timing is especially notable for downtowns still recovering from the pandemic. Across several host cities, large real estate projects are coming online as the spotlight arrives, aiming to capture event‑driven foot traffic.
More broadly, the event showcases how cities present themselves to the world — through transit systems, hospitality and mixed‑use districts. For Canada, where Vancouver and Toronto will host matches for the first time, the tournament offers a debut moment to highlight urban infrastructure and international appeal.
Taken together, the 2026 World Cup is shaping up as more than a sports spectacle. It is a continent‑wide test for cities — and a rare chance to turn attention into lasting economic and real estate impact.
Here are links to CoStar News’ separate scouting reports on each World Cup market.
United States
Markets
Canada
World Cup scouting report: Mexico highlights cultural centers with 13 soccer matches in three cities
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