Accor just admitted what everyone else pretends not to see — you can’t mix a big brand OTA with a lifestyle brand.
Accor’s board just approved exploring an IPO for Ennismore: home to The Hoxton, 25hours Hotels, MAMA SHELTER, SLS Hotels, and Mondrian Hotels.
It seems like a financial move.
It’s actually a confession.
Accor has realized what Marriott International, Hilton, and IHG Hotels & Resorts still ignore:
You can’t run a creativity business and a distribution business under the same roof.
Lifestyle thrives on difference.
Distribution thrives on sameness.
When your homepage looks like Expedia Group, you’re not selling guest experience anymore.
Accor is separating because brand quality and platform reach pull in opposite directions.
This split isn’t cosmetic, it’s foundational.
You can’t design intimacy on a mass booking engine.
You can’t nurture true loyalty inside a points funnel.
And you can’t serve haute cuisine from a cafeteria self-service line.
So when big chains push “soft brands” as their answer to lifestyle, ask why they keep them plugged into the same backend logic that kills differentiation.
Accor didn’t “innovate.”
It just stopped lying to itself.
The parent brand had to split to protect its lifestyle arm.
That’s not portfolio management. That’s brand triage.
Smart independents know that controlling the guest journey is the only real independence.
Why keep joining systems that dilute yours?
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