LEADER - PASCAL VISINTAINER, GLOBAL CHIEF SALES OFFICER, ACCOR LUXURY & LIFESTYLE: "THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IS SIMPLY THE BUSINESS OF CARING FOR PEOPLE"
An unwavering commitment to human connection and partnership has defined Pascal Visintainer's three-decade journey in luxury hospitality. |
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LEADER - PASCAL VISINTAINER, GLOBAL CHIEF SALES OFFICER, ACCOR LUXURY & LIFESTYLE: "THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IS SIMPLY THE BUSINESS OF CARING FOR PEOPLE"
An unwavering commitment to human connection and partnership has defined Pascal Visintainer's three-decade journey in luxury hospitality. |
Category: Worldwide - Interviews and portraits
- Interviews - Industry leaders
Interview made by Sonia Taourghi on 2025-06-13
 Pascal Visintainer, Global Chief Sales Officer, Accor Luxury & Lifestyle, at the ATM Dubai 2025
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi
Visintainer's recent promotion to Global Chief Sales Officer for Accor's Luxury & Lifestyle division represents the culmination of eight successful years with the company. In his new role, he oversees commercial strategy for prestigious brands including Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, and Orient Express hotels. His appointment comes at a pivotal time as Accor restructures to serve the luxury market better. Under his leadership, the division launched the groundbreaking HERA programme for luxury travel advisors. His strategic vision primarily focuses on India as a cornerstone of his expansion plans, following recent landmark partnerships.
What strikes you immediately about Pascal Visintainer is his natural warmth and infectious enthusiasm for hospitality. In conversation, he possesses that rare quality of making complex industry dynamics feel accessible and engaging. His vivacious personality shines through as he discusses everything from Orient Express La Minerva in Rome to Accor's ambitious expansion plans. There's an authenticity to his approach that reflects his core belief about hospitality being fundamentally about caring for people. Despite managing global operations, he maintains a refreshingly personal touch that makes business relationships feel like genuine partnerships.
Journal des Palaces: Congratulations on your new role. What are your immediate priorities as Global Chief Sales Officer for Accor's Luxury & Lifestyle division, and how do you plan to build on your experience as Senior Vice President Global Sales?
Pascal Visintainer: Thank you, it is truly a privilege to step into this role alongside such a strong team. Working alongside all of our brand teams, we aim to shape the future of our Luxury & Lifestyle network by strengthening our partnerships and expanding our realm of opportunities. One of my top priorities is to nurture and cherish our key client relationships, enabling them to evolve and grow in mutually beneficial ways.
Over the eight years that I have been with Accor, I have learned the importance of promoting and educating the market on the diversity and depth of our Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio. New and potential partners are often surprised to learn how each of our brands is distinct, rich in character and unique in style. By focusing on these areas, I am confident our team will yield exceptional results.
The launch of Accor's HERA programme marks a significant commitment to travel advisor partnerships. What insights from your research shaped the development of HERA, and how do you see it transforming Accor's relationship with the luxury travel trade?
Accor deeply values the strong relationships we have built with luxury travel advisors –they trust us to listen to their feedback and reward them for their loyalty. Before launching HERA, Accor conducted extensive research to ensure our new platform would effectively reflect the expectations of travel advisors booking travel experiences and making stay decisions alongside their luxury travel clients.
Our research revealed their priorities: tools to increase productivity, performance, and client satisfaction, with more capabilities to personalise experiences. We are confident that HERA more than meets these needs, equipping travel advisors with all the resources they require to seamlessly create bespoke luxury travel experiences for their clients, while granting them valuable reward points to use at their discretion.
Accor has restructured into distinct divisions, including Luxury & Lifestyle. How does this organisational transformation enhance your ability to deliver value to both owners and guests in the high-end segment?
As a global leader across the luxury and lifestyle hospitality segments, Accor is keen to continuously expand our network and leadership position in markets around the world. Through our dedicated Luxury & Lifestyle sales teams and support channels, we are accelerating our momentum, reinforcing our visibility and leadership, and strengthening our relationships with luxury travel advisors. Thanks to our unique structure, our regional leadership teams can take a more targeted approach.
With experienced team members who understand the nuances of luxury and lifestyle hospitality, they can focus their time and resources on our highest-value clients and hotels, accelerating growth and driving profit for both hotel owners and Accor shareholders.
With over 30 years in hospitality and tourism, how have your diverse experiences – from promoting France internationally to leading sales at Barrière and Accor – influenced your leadership style and vision for the future of luxury hospitality?
Accor is a company rooted in France, and since I myself am French, it means that we share a European sensibility and vision for Luxury and Lifestyle hospitality. Accor was a pioneer in creating a genuine luxury approach to hospitality, placing experiences at the heart of our clients' stays. I believe the future of hospitality will continue on that trajectory – the kaleidoscope of travel opportunities is becoming more diverse, more colourful, and more intricately personalised as we move into the future.
With the recent launch of Orient Express La Minerva in Rome – the first Orient Express hotel in the world – and first Italian-made luxury train, La Dolce Vita Orient Express; and with next year's debut of the world's largest sailing yacht, Orient Express Corinthian, we are reaching another level of luxury experiences where personalisation and exceptional care is key for our guests. Accor's bold leadership style and foresight have always impressed me, especially what we are doing for CSR, and I share that passion for infinite possibilities.
The luxury hospitality market is highly competitive and ever evolving. What do you see as the biggest trends shaping the future of luxury and lifestyle hotels, and how is Accor positioning itself to lead in this space?
More than ever, luxury travellers seek experiences that focus on substance, personalisation, wellbeing, and sustainability. They are more interested in how they feel than in what they do. Indeed, the goal across all our luxury and lifestyle hotels is to make every guest feel seen, understood, and cared for.
Our loyalty program ALL Accor, helps ensure that returning guests are welcomed as cherished friends, with personalised rewards and exclusive privileges that create a true sense of belonging and emotional wellbeing. By selectively integrating AI into our operations – from online booking to personalised concierge services – our hotel teams can spend more time with guests and provide the kind of attentive, tailored care that defines genuine luxury hospitality.
Your approach repeatedly emphasises partnership and human connection. How do you foster strong, sustainable relationships with travel advisors, owners, and internal teams to drive growth and innovation?
The hospitality industry is simply the business of caring for people – everything we do is premised on human connection and the ability to create meaning in every interaction. Our global luxury sales network is encouraged to put people first. We connect with our clients, build rapport, and believe in maintaining long-term relationships that have room to evolve over time, because people change, and their needs grow as well. With dedicated programs and tools, such as HERA, we listen and adapt to what our clients need. We want to be our clients' first choice and 'best partner' in the luxury travel trade – making it as easy as possible to do business with us.
With so many emerging markets, what are Accor's luxury portfolio's priority regions or countries?
As the third-largest international hotel group in India in terms of rooms, Accor has a strong platform to become a trailblazer in this rapidly developing hospitality market, and our luxury portfolio is flourishing. We recently opened Raffles Jaipur and Fairmont Mumbai, with Fairmont Udaipur Palace set to open later this year. Several more incredible hotels are in the works, such as Fairmont Agra, Fairmont Shimla Fagu, Fairmont Goa Shiroda, Sofitel Jaipur Jawahar Circle, Raffles Goa, Raffles Ranthambore and Sofitel Legend Sukh Bagh Jaipur. In April 2024, we signed a landmark partnership with InterGlobe, India's foremost travel conglomerate, to create India's fastest-growing hospitality enterprise. This new platform will target a network of 300 hotels under Accor brands by 2030.
The Middle East remains a high-priority market for Accor. In Saudi Arabia, we have been on the ground for over 30 years, helping to develop the country's hospitality scene and becoming the largest hotel operator. Raffles Jeddah and SLS Red Sea are two of our highest-profile openings in the Kingdom this year.
Popular urban destinations, such as Singapore, Bangkok, Vietnam, and Tokyo, continue to be in high demand for our luxury and lifestyle brands. Meanwhile, resort and nature destinations are thriving due to an intense desire among travellers for connection with local culture and outdoor experiences. Raffles Sentosa Singapore recently opened, and Fairmont Tokyo will open in July, along with Hotel MontAzure Lakeside Phuket - MGallery Collection and three Banyan Tree destinations in Singapore, South Korea, and Tanzania. Meanwhile, we look forward to the future openings of Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit, Hyde Suites Seminyak Bali, and Raffles Tokyo.
Europe is Accor's home market, and we continue to build and remain the largest operator in the market. This year, we have already opened The Hoxton, Florence, and the first Orient Express hotel in the world, Orient Express La Minerva, in the heart of Rome. We look forward to opening Orient Express Palazzo Donà Giovannelli in Venice next year and Raffles Lake Como in 2028. In Spain, we recently opened Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol in Andalusia and SLS Barcelona. Furthermore, we look forward to launching our first luxury hotel in Portugal with Sofitel Porto in 2028.
Looking ahead, what are your ambitions for Accor's Luxury & Lifestyle brands on the global stage, and what strategic milestones do you hope to achieve in the next few years?
Accor is very proud to have curated one of the most diverse and distinguished portfolios of hospitality brands in the world. Globally, Accor is one of the largest operators in the luxury hospitality industry, and Ennismore is the fastest-growing lifestyle hospitality company in the world. On average, our Luxury & Lifestyle teams open more than one luxury or lifestyle hotel project per week and sign approximately half a dozen luxury and lifestyle projects per month.
We will continue to strengthen and grow our luxury and lifestyle brands across regions where we have a leadership position, while boldly breaking new ground in up-and-coming markets. Through our branded residential communities, we will continue to connect more homeowners, guests, and partners to Accor's diverse ecosystem of brands, expertise, and solutions, creating a flow of new opportunities to live, work, and play.
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