Accor to take on OTA’s

Accor to take on OTA’s

Accor aligns ducks in a row; becomes “trailblazer” in hospitality by wooing independent hotels.

On a roll with the launch of a new name and brand identity, AccorHotels is now eyeing the competition from online travel agencies launching a digital platform for independent hotels.

The French hotel giant changed its name yesterday to AccorHotels, in line with its website AccorHotels.com and will be inviting independent hotels to apply for access to the online reservation platform from July as part of a 225 million euros digital drive announced last year.

“Over the first two years of its operation, this initiative represents additional investment of around 10% of the digital project presented in October,” AccorHotels said.

Competing with the Expedia and Priceline duopoly in Australia, the move to create an online marketplace open to independent hotels will eventuate into more than 10,000 hotels in 300 key cities worldwide listed on the platform by 2018, and represent a three-fold increase of the number of hotels on AccorHotels.com.

The hotel group said it will offer the hotels competitive commission rates and guarantees transparent display rules and access to customer data.

The independent hotels will be listed on the platform alongside the group’s brand hotels and selected on the basis of hotel criteria with guest reviews taken into account, the company said.

Calling it a “major initiative” for the group, AccorHotels ceo Sébastien Bazin said the move reinforces its position as a “hospitality industry pioneer and trailblazer.”

“We are becoming a trustworthy, selective and transparent third party and we are once again amplifying the in-depth transformation undertaken within the Group since 2013,” Bazin said.

Initially, the plan will commence with a focus on Italy, Spain France and UK in Europe and Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in Asia, before expanding into other markets in 2016.

This initiative follows the acquisition of Fastbooking by the group last year, headed up by Vivek Badrinath.

“With our digital plan, which is in the midst of its roll-out, the take over of Fastbooking, which allows us to deploy a range of cutting-edge services for hoteliers, and now the opening of a marketplace, AccorHotels is taking the initiative to ensure that the combination of digital experience and hotelier know-how is increasingly effective,” he said.

The group also announced a new version of its mobile application AccorHotels, which now features all hotels in one single app.

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