Paris-based Accor has ousted Denis Hennequin as CEO, saying that the hotel company hasn’t implemented its financial restructuring or improved its operating performance as quickly as expected.
Yann Caillere, who has been Accor’s chief operating officer since joining the company in 2006, succeeds Hennequin.
“The strategy adopted is the right one, and it will remain unchanged,” Accor said in a statement Tuesday. “However, given current economic conditions and the rapid transformation of its competitive environment, Accor must accelerate the implementation of this strategy in order to reinforce its positions.”
Hennequin, who had previously run McDonald’s Europe, was named Accor’s CEO in January 2011.
Accor last fall completed a $1.9 billion sale of Motel 6 to Blackstone Group. The sale was part of an effort to reduce the company’s debt.
Accor said earlier this month that its first-quarter comparable sales were little changed from a year earlier, as gains from increased demand for upscale brands like Sofitel and Pullman were offset by lagging demand for budget brands such as Ibis and Novotel.
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