AccorCEO:wewanttotransformthewayeveryoneuseshotels

AccorHotels is undergoing a major transformation in an effort to become a new breed of hospitality company, and the biggest example of that is the company’s most recent pilot program.

Dubbed “Accor Local” by AccorHotels CEO Sebastien Bazin during the company’s analyst conference on February 22, this pilot brought to life a concept that Bazin first mentioned to Skift last year, shortly after the company completed its $2.7-billion acquisition of the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissotel brands.

“Ninety-nine percent of what we have done for 50 years has been based on the guy coming from outside of town,” Bazin told Skift. “A traveler, from a different city, from a different country, which I think is interesting, but not too smart. Because we missed a population which is 100 times greater and better and easier: The guy living next door. The local inhabitants. They live around the hotel, or they go to an office around the hotel, and 90 percent of them never dared coming into the property, because they’re fearful that we’re going to be asking, ‘What’s your room number?’ They don’t need a room, but they may need a service.”