” Thanks for that. It’s a massive commitment. “ Thursday November 4, under the gold of the Elysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron warmly thanked the hotelier Accor for“Invest for the official hotel reservation center” of the Rugby World Cup 2023 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in Paris in 2024.
That day, Accor announced that it would become an official partner of the JOP 2024. Its subsidiary ResaEvents, created for the occasion a year ago, would take charge of the distribution of hotel rooms for the participants and officials of the Rugby World Cups. and the Olympic Games. For the latter, the group will also take over accommodation services in the athletes and media villages. So many contracts awarded without a call for tenders, which raise questions about the exceptions to the rules of public procurement permitted in the context of major sporting events.
For Accor, it’s a comeback in the world of distribution between professionals, fifteen years after its last experience in the field at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. It is also a new example of its ambitions in sport, which was recalled by the recent signing of a contract with the 2022 Football World Cup. The latter market, which provides for the creation of temporary tourist residences in Qatar on competition time, was obtained “Following an international call for tenders”, hastens to specify the group, anxious to remove the suspicions of favoritism with Doha, at the same time second shareholder and privileged partner.
The organizers of major French events did not take the same precautions, secretly awarding the market for the distribution of hotel rooms. Contrary to their own habits since the start of the Parisian candidacy.
Common interest
Although not dependent exclusively on public money, the Public Interest Group (GIP) of France 2023 – which did not answer the questions of the World due to“A very busy week” – and the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) comply with the public procurement code. But the constitution of an economic interest group (GIE) by France 2023, holder of the commercial rights to the Rugby World Cup, and the Olympic partnerships make it possible to bypass it. To the public market, the organizing committees therefore preferred the negotiation by mutual agreement, being with Accor of the common interests.
From August 2020, the EIG formed by France 2023 sold the hotel distribution rights for 850,000 euros to ResaEvents. The Accor subsidiary will be remunerated with a 10% commission on each reservation, within the lower range of standards. The Rugby World Cup contract is unlikely to be a big financial deal for Accor. But it constitutes an essential trial gallop before the more complex dossier of the Olympic Games.
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