The board of French hotels company Accor SA (AC.FR) Wednesday said it is replacing its Chief Executive Gilles Pelisson, who oversaw the company's split from its vouchers business, with Denis Hennequin, Chief Executive of McDonald's Corp. (MCD) in Europe following "strategic divergences" between the board and Pelisson.

Over the past 5 years at the helm of Accor--the company behind the Motel6 budget chain in the U.S., Sofitel luxury hotels and the Novotel brand--Pelisson, 53, has restructured the company by selling off non-core assets and hotel properties, replacing them with long-term leases, and separating the highly cash-generative vouchers business into a separately listed company, Edenred (EDEN.FR).

But at a board meeting Tuesday, the board and Pelisson "recognized the strategic divergences between them, leading them to organize the departure of Gilles Pelisson," the company said in a statement. Pelisson was not immediately available to comment.

While Pelisson was good for managing the transformation of Accor, now the board seeks someone with a different set of skills to take the company to the next level of development, a person close to the company said. This will include an ongoing focus on the restructuring of property assets with a particular emphasis on developing its network of hotels operated through franchise agreements, this person said.

Hennequin, 52, has been at McDonald's since 1984 and oversaw an increase in business volumes making Europe a strong contributer to group profit, which made him an attractive candidate for the job, the person said.

"He did not simply copy and paste the McDonald's U.S. offer but gave it a European dimension," the person also said. He added Hennequin's "strong grasp of human resources issues--making McDonald's an attractive place to work--and ability to cultivate relationships," would be important for the next stage of Accor's development.

Accor's 11-member board includes four representatives of its key shareholders, the U.S. private equity firm Colony Capital and European investment company Eurazeo (RF.FR), who were not immediately available to comment.

Under Hennequin's direction, Accor will move into "a new phase in its development, during which the definition of priorities and their execution will be key factors in its success," the board said in its statement.

Hennequin, who has served on Accor's board since last year, will take up the new position on Jan 11.

Pelisson's announced departure took many by surprise.

"It would have been less surprising if the departure had been announced over a year ago," when the company was contemplating splitting into two separate companies rather than at a time when business is improving, said an analyst who declined to be named. The analyst said Pelisson's discourse before the decision to split the company suggested he had been less enthusiastic about the move than key shareholders.

Accor earlier this month increased its profit target for the year after third quarter sales showed improved business in its more expensive hotels in Europe. Along with other hotel groups that were hit hard by the crisis, the company is starting to see an uptick in business. Visibility remains low for the industry, however, as clients wait until the last minute to make reservations, and Accor's optimism for the end of the year thus far does not extend into next year.

Accor last month withdrew plans to list its 49% stake in the French casino operator Groupe Lucien Barriere because of a lack of investor interest. The plans are part of the company's efforts to reduce debt as it no longer has the vouchers division which was traditionally used to fund hotel expansion.

Shares in the company have risen nearly 16% over the past three months, outpacing a 3% rise in the Paris CAC-40-index on expectations for a bounce-back in the sector. The hotels sector was badly affected by the economic crisis as businesses cut back on employee travel and the sector has lagged others in improving.

At 0911 GMT, Accor shares traded up 0.1% to EUR29.72.

By Mimosa Spencer, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40 17 1773; mimosa.spencer@dowjones.com