First-quarter business travel demand at Accor Group¡¯s hotels exhibited some softness even as overall demand held up through an uncertain start to 2025.

Martine Gerow, chief financial officer at Paris-based Accor, told a conference call that there was ¡°still good demand from groups and leisure and softer demand on business individuals¡±.

Gerow said that Accor¡¯s overall demand was holding up amid the global economic uncertainty seen during the past few months.

"March was softer than January and February due to calendar shifts, notably with Easter," she said. "April and May are trending much better. And thus far, we are not seeing significant changes in demand trends in our key markets."

Accor's systemwide Q1 revenue per available room (revpar) increased by 5 per cent to €69 on a like-for-like, constant-currency basis, according to the company, with average room rate rising by 4 per cent to €113.

Total revenue rose by 9.2 per cent year-on-year to €1.35 billion during the quarter as global occupancy improved by 0.6 percentage points to 60.9 per cent.

The company¡¯s revpar in the Europe and North Africa region increased by only 0.6 per cent to €54 in Q1 compared to the same period of 2024. The region¡¯s average room rate declined marginally by 0.1 per cent year-on-year to €93 and occupancy rose slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 58.3 per cent.

Results were patchy for Accor¡¯s key European markets during the quarter: in its home country France, which accounts for 44 per cent of the region¡¯s revenue, revpar ¡°declined slightly¡± in both Paris and the French regions ¡°due to a weak March¡±.

There was a year-on-year decline in revpar in the UK ¨C both in London and the regions ¨C which Accor attributed to ¡°weak confidence in the country¡¯s economic situation¡±.

In Germany, there was ¡°moderate¡± growth in revpar at the beginning of the year before ¡°accelerating¡± later in the quarter due to a ¡°more favourable trade fair calendar¡±.