Accor posted a 6.2% dip in first-half sales on Thursday, hit by business disposals, a weaker dollar, and a slower US economy.
The French hotel group, which competes with InterContinental Hotels and Marriott International, made no forecasts for the full year but cited a favourable outlook for its lunch vouchers and European economy hotel businesses.
The world's largest hotel group by market value said interim sales came in at €3.765bn ($5.97bn), compared to €4.015bn in the same period of 2007.
But the operator of Sofitel hotels and Ticket Restaurant food vouchers said sales were up 5.2% on a like-for-like basis – which excludes currency effects and the divestment of its Red Roof Inn motel chain, an Italian catering business – helped by a resilient European hotels market.
The sales were towards the bottom end of a range of analysts' forecasts of between €3.724bn to €4.078bn from Reuters Estimates.
Core hotel sales were down 1.4% to €2.81bn, hit by divestments and a sharp drop in revenues from its economy hotels in the United States, which felt the pinch of a slowdown in the world's biggest economy.
But business in Accor's upscale hotels and economy hotels outside the United States remained resilient. Economy hotels in Britain generated a 9.8% like-for-like rise in sales.
Accor's services activity generated €459m in sales, up 9.9%, driven by double-digit growth in Western Europe and Latin America.
Accor shares closed 5.5% higher at €42.51, before the results. The stock has shed 22% since the start of the year, while the DJ Stoxx European travel and leisure index has lost 26%.
Accor's update came a few days after Marriott reported lower quarterly results, trimmed its full-year earnings forecast range, and said it expected weak economic growth and soft U.S. lodging deamnd to persist into 2009.
Hotel executives have said they expect soaring fuel prices and a broad economic slowdown to hurt US leisure travel through the rest of 2008 and that they hope business travel can help shore up the industry.
by Jessica Mead, Reuters
