At the end of last year, Accor launched the Apartments & Villas website, dedicated to long-stay hotels. What is the aim of this site?
Yassine Hachem - Our will, with this siteThe main aim was to simplify access to our long-stay accommodation offer, which was already available on the All.Accor.com website, but which was not yet available on the All.Accor.com website. the route leading to it was not optimal. On our global site, customers must first choose a hotel and then consult the different types of accommodation available. However, if you don't know in advance which hotels offer this type of accommodation, or if you want to book a particular type of accommodation (flats, villas, suites, etc.), it is more complicated to access these solutions directly... Now, more than 50,000 flats, villas and chaletsselected from the 15 Accor brands offering long-term stays, are available for booking on the Apartments & Villas website. It includes products and services from long-stay accommodation specialists such as Adagio and Mantra and the 'extended stay' versions of our hotel brands such as Mondrian Living or Mövenpick Living, as well as accommodation in residences inspired by brands such as Raffles, Fairmont or Hyde, as well as exceptional flats and villas for rent from onefinestay or certain hotel suites ideal for long stays, for example at Novotel or Mercure.
What are the mandatory criteria for inclusion on this site?
Y. H. - The accommodation must have a bedroom and bathroom area, of course, but also a kitchen area where food can be heated and refrigerated. Of course, in our inventory, most of our long-stay accommodation also has a kitchenette. office area. To these guarantees we add the benefits of our Accor Live Limitless (ALL) loyalty programme, the reassurance of health protocols thanks to the ALLSafe label that we have put in place. Through the Apartments & Villas website, customers are also guaranteed the best price combined with greater flexibility thanks to our cancellation policy. On top of this, when long-stay accommodation is integrated into one of our establishments, customers benefit from the hotel know-how of our brands and from all associated servicesThese include high-quality Wi-Fi, the ability to ask reception to print documents, catering and leisure facilities such as a gym and swimming pool.
More than 50,000 flats, villas and chalets are now available for booking on the Apartments & Villas website.
With the pandemic, are you seeing a growing demand for this type of accommodation?
Y. H. - In fact, we have seen two segments withstand the health crisis better than the standard hotel sector: the lifestyle and long stays. Customers are more interested in this type of accommodation, which offers something extra. It allows you to feel at home while benefiting from hotel services. If you don't feel like going out or can't go to a restaurant because they are closed, you can cook in the comfort of your flat. The residence or hotel can also arrange for a meal to be delivered, while ensuring that health regulations are respected. It was this type of service that some customers came looking for during the pandemic, and which explains the resilience of long-stay accommodation.
As well as being resilient today, is long-stay accommodation just as well suited to future trends, particularly the rise of teleworking?
Y. H. - Before the crisis, we were already seeing a blurring of the lines... the separation between leisure and businessThere are many different types of traveller, with business travellers who decide to extend their trip a little to enjoy the destination and, conversely, holidaymakers who need to work while on holiday. This has been reinforced by the pandemic. Take, for example, people who wanted a change of scenery because they live in a small Parisian flat: through long-stay solutions, they have been able to find a pleasant environment in which to work while escaping from their everyday lives. During the school holidays, these solutions also enable parents to continue their professional activities in good conditionswhile their children enjoy the activities at the residence. Offering all these possibilities hits the nail on the head.
Let's look at your offering. With Adagio Aparthotel, you already have a brand that is solidly positioned in this segment. Is it still a priority?
Y. H. - Yes, we will continue to invest in Adagio, the European leader hotel flats. This is our group's historic long-stay brand, and it's still the most popular. in full growth. Our aim is to make the apart'hotels warm places to live, where people don't just come to sleep. Adagio is testing a number of things in this area, including a new design concept that takes new trends into account, or a better understanding of common groundWe also have a new brand, Mantra, with coworking spaces and grocery shops where people can do their shopping. At the same time, we recently acquired another long-stay brand, Mantra. Based in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly in Australia and New Zealand, it offers premium, leisure-oriented services. We are continuing to develop this segment with the launch of new brands such as Swissôtel Living, Mövenpick Living and Novotel Living.
We're seeing more and more of your hotels offering a Living option. Will this offer continue to grow?
Y. H. - This long-stay option is also set to expand. This year, for example, a Swissôtel Living will open in Jeddah. For its part, Mövenpick has several openings planned for its Living range, notably in Istanbul. You also have a Pullman Living coming out in Djibouti and a Hyde Living in preparation at Munich airport. It is something we believe in very strongly. With Living, we can take a hybrid approach, catering for different types of clientele to ensure that the hotel has a good occupancy rate. This can take the form of entire units dedicated to long stays, or hotels that devote only a part of their inventory to them, with special floors reserved for extended stay. Depending on the destination and the location of the hotel, we can easily say that we are going to make 60 % of standard rooms and 40 of flats or 100 % Living, given the strong demand for long-stay accommodation. In this context, our lifestyle brands such as Mondrian and SLS also have strong potential in this segment.
On the other hand, your luxury brands are more suited to what we call "branded residences" attached to a property development. How does this fit in with your Apartments & Villas offering?
Y. H. - There is a growing demand for this type of offer. Some owners want a second home that also offers services such as a swimming pool, concierge, gym, communal areas and gardens. They want all these services, but they also know that they won't always be in their residence. So they can choose to rent out their accommodation (Editor's note: future developments include the Fairmont Residences Royal Palm Marrakech and the SO/ Residences in Los Cabos, Mexico). In this case, you will find these accommodations on the Apartments & Villas website.
The launch of this site also enables Onefinestay's offer to be better promoted.
Y. H. - It's also one of the reasons we've launched this website, to raise awareness of onefinestay. We are adding a new feature with the integration of 100 % from onefinestay in our loyalty programme. Previously, members of our programme could use their points to pay for onefinestay accommodation, but could not earn points by booking. Now they can do both. With the Apartments & Villas site, we really wanted to make our entire long-stay offer more accessible and ensure that our customers benefit from all their advantages when they book this type of offer.
