Hotel group Accor hired law firm to investigate conduct of CEO Bazin
Report found no wrongdoing after probing allegations of impropriety in Accor’s dealings with associates of Bazin
The board of hotel group Accor hired an elite Paris law firm to carry out a probe into the conduct of chief executive Sébastien Bazin, in response to allegations of conflicts of interest and favouritism under his leadership.
The investigation, which concluded in recent weeks, was requested by Bazin after an anonymous document laying out a series of allegations in detail was circulated to board members, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
The probe examined Accor’s dealings with Paris Society, the hospitality business owned by Bazin’s close associate Laurent de Gourcuff, and allegations of favouritism in the appointment of a woman to a senior position in the group, according to the people.
The woman is in a long-term romantic relationship with Bazin, according to people familiar with the situation. However, the relationship between the two was not mentioned in the allegations sent to the board and therefore was not investigated by the law firm.
Antoine Gosset-Grainville, who led the probe for law firm BDGS, concluded the allegations were without merit.
“Accor Group confirms that, in compliance with the principles of the highest standards of corporate governance, it has conducted an independent investigation following anonymous allegations involving its leader. The findings of this thorough investigation confirmed that there were no breaches of the legal or fiduciary obligations incumbent upon him,” the company said.
Accor’s board “unanimously endorsed these findings” and closed the investigation. “The Group reserves the right to assert its legal rights in order to put an end to these baseless allegations,” it added. BDGS declined to comment.
The allegations investigated by Gosset-Grainville, who also serves as the chair of Axa, included whether there had been irregularities or favouritism in the appointment in 2025 of one of the company’s external communications advisers into a senior executive role at Accor.
The woman was recruited into a position at Accor’s luxury hospitality division Ennismore, which is pursuing a stock market listing that could generate a significant windfall for its executives.
Accor is preparing to recruit a successor to Bazin, who announced in May that he would step down by the time his term expires in May 2028. Bazin, the former chair of football club Paris Saint-Germain, has been chief executive and chair of Accor since 2013.
BDGS also investigated whether Bazin’s close relationship with de Gourcuff influenced Accor’s dealings with his hospitality company Paris Society.
Accor acquired Paris Society in 2022 after making an initial investment in 2017. The hotel group last year sold back about 20 of Paris Society’s nightclubs to de Gourcuff, who had continued to manage the business under Accor’s ownership. The terms of the deals were never disclosed.
The board was urged to examine why the transaction was reversed so quickly and if there were adequate safeguards in place to ensure the interests of Accor shareholders were protected.
The transactions were approved by Accor’s investment committee and the decision to sell the nightclubs was consistent with the company’s strategy of disposing of so-called nightlife assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Paris Society said Bazin and de Gourcuff only met in 2017 and their relationship was “primarily professional”. They added that given nightclubs were “never a strategic focus” for Accor it was “quite natural” for them to be sold.
“This transaction has undergone all the necessary approval processes . . . it creates value for shareholders. Therefore, it has nothing to do with any kind of preferential treatment or a sudden change of course,” Paris Society added.
The probe has come at a turbulent time for Accor. The Paris-listed hotel group, which operates more than 5,000 hotels and 45 brands worldwide, was this year targeted by short seller Grizzly Research, which alleged the company failed to adequately safeguard against potential human trafficking and child sex exploitation.
Accor’s chief sustainability officer Coline Pont said in May that an independent investigation had confirmed that the company had “no systemic deficiencies” in its procedures.
The intense scrutiny in recent months has prompted questions internally over whether there is a concerted effort to destabilise the company.
Accor’s portfolio ranges from the budget chain Ibis to luxury hotel brand Raffles and the Orient Express. Bazin has turned the group into an asset-light operator of hotel franchises and expanded the previously Europe-centric group further into Asia and the Middle East.
Accor’s shares have, however, lagged the wider market, with critics arguing that acquisitions made by Bazin have made Accor overly complex.
The group has been targeted by activist investor Parvus Asset Management, which has amassed a 15 per cent stake. In a filing last year, Parvus said it did not intend to take control of Accor or seek a board seat, but that it would be “particularly attentive to Accor’s governance”.