Today the mobile device is at the centre of the customer experience and it’s also at the heart of Europe’s largest hotel chain’s new digital strategy. Pamela Whitby reports

Given the scale of the task at hand, it’s unsurprising that Romain Roulleau, Senior Vice President e-Commerce and Digital at the Accor Group sounds like a man in a hurry.

He is one of the team leading the five-year $280 million digital transformation of Europe’s biggest hotel operator. By all accounts that’s a big job.

It was in late 2013, the year that digital channels overtook television for the first time, that Accor announced a new strategy around two clear divisions: HotelServices, the operations and franchise arm of the business and HotelInvest, the ownership and investment piece. The team then got to work on a plan that would put digital technology at the heart of both the customer experience and the Accor Group.

When the digital strategy was unveiled in October 2014, Sébastien Bazin, Accor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: “This profound transformation gives Accor an outstanding platform to scale up.”

With mobile check in and check out now possible at a 1,000 of its 3,700 hotels, Accor’s work on the eight-part digital plan is already well underway. Unsurprisingly, top of that list is mobile.

According to Roulleau 2015 will see hotels focus on two main areas:

• The push to find the right balance between direct and indirect bookings
• The huge growth in mobile usage

Today 40% of the Accor Group’s traffic comes from mobile devices, translating to 12% of transactions. Roulleau says: “We have a target of reaching 50% in the coming years.”

We have a target of reaching 50% [mobile traffic] in the coming years

Romain Roulleau, Senior Vice President e-Commerce and Digital, Accor Group

Given research from IDC, which finds that 79% of users have their mobile phone with them for all but two hours of the waking day, this has to be a priority for hotels.

An app for everything

“The big thing with mobile is that we are building one main application for the whole group. This is not just a booking application but one that will be a travel companion to our guests throughout their journey,” says Roulleau.

Every single service that is available offline in the hotel – from room service, to booking a restaurant table, arranging late check out or accessing the concierge - will be reachable and accessible via the app.

One challenge that hotels have faced with native mobile hotel applications is that they are only really useful during the stay; more often than not they fall into disuse as soon as soon as the guest leaves the hotel.

By integrating recently acquired French travel software company Wipolo, which offers mobile and web itinerary management services, into its main app, Accor aims to go a step further in providing the guest with a seamless experience. The functionality that the Wipolo app offers includes: flight and hotel booking, ground transportation, restaurants, the ability to share trip information with friends and more. In other words, it is far more than a simple hotel app.

According to Roulleau, 24 hours before arriving at the hotel, the guest will receive a push message within the integrated app, inviting them to discover all available hotel services. When clicking on it, the guest will land on a dedicated environment for the hotel itself within the main travel app.

“The integration of Wipolo into the Accor group app will give users just another reason to download it,” Roulleau says.

The first pilot of the app will take place by the end of the first quarter and Accor expects to see a return on investment before the year is out.

The year of ancillary revenue and the rise of meta

While Accor, like many other big chains, may have to concede that the OTAs have, and probably always will have, the edge over bookings, they can compete during the guest’s stay.

Once the booking is made, the relationship between the customer and the OTA is over

“Once the booking is made, the relationship between the customer and the OTA is over. It’s here that we believe we can still gain a competitive edge,” says Roulleau.

According to a recent EyeforTravel survey, ancillary revenues are worth $100bn a year to the hospitality industry. Yet just 35% of respondents are measuring food and beverage – the most commonly recorded amenity!

A closer look at Accor’s strategy shows that this is one chain that is looking to up its game with data. A ‘customer centric’ approach aims to optimise use of databases to ensure that every piece of relevant information about a guest is recorded centrally. The aim: to ensure a personalised and relevant follow up.

In the battle for market share, however, Roulleau is pragmatic. While the OTAs are seen as ‘frenemies’ - a sort of necessary evil - Accor wants to do more with metasearch.

“This is a very important channel for us and we are big partners with the main players – Trivago, Google Price Ad finder and TripAdvisor,” he says.

Watch this space!

To find out more about Accor’s digital strategy why not join us at the Travel Distribution Summit, Europe (May 6-7)