RETAIL
The Orbis Hotel Group is the leading organisation of its kind in Poland and in Eastern Europe , and the Polish travel agency Polskie Biuro Podróży Orbis was founded in 1920 . Its founders wanted to establish a travel agency rendering services of an international standard – an institution representing a “ window on the world ” for the citizens of a new , reborn Poland . Over the decades , Orbis moved from being a travel agency to become a key player in the hospitality sector , working with AccorHotels as a strategic partner .
“ This company was a travel bureau at the beginning , created almost 100 years ago and more recently in the 1970s it started to become a hospitality player ,” remarks current CEO Gilles Clavie . “ Orbis at that time already had Novotel franchise contracts from AccorHotels . From that contract , we ’ ve retained four key hotels that we ’ re still running today – some of them are the best hotels of the company today . There ’ s a long history between Orbis and AccorHotels .”
Partnering prowess Following the initial franchise in 1973 for six Novotel hotels , more AccorHotels brands entered the Polish market after the reintroduction of democracy and a market economy . In 1991 , the state-owned enterprise Orbis was transformed into a company wholly owned by the State Treasury and 1993 saw the first Mercure in Warsaw and the first Ibis in Krakow . A few years later , in 1997 , Orbis became a private company , joining the Warsaw Stock Exchange ( WSE ). “ This company was privatised and put on the market in 1997 with an IPO and a few years after , in 2000 , AccorHotels started progressively to hand over the capital for it ,” Clavie comments .
“ There was a partnership between AccorHotels and Orbis . The aim of the partnership was that each time Orbis developed or renovated an hotel , then Orbis should consider turning that hotel into an AccorHotels brand .” Such an arrangement remained for over a decade , during which Orbis divested of the rest of its travel , transport and casino
www . businessrevieweurope . eu 127