PARIS — Accor has released its Hospitality Ahead: Transforming How We Welcome, Engage and Manage report. A part of Accor’s From Change to Opportunity thought-leadership series, the report explores ongoing changes impacting the hospitality industry at large, provides insights on how to address these shifts and offers examples and recommendations for inventive ways to leverage these transformations into actionable and profitable business opportunities which satisfy these new needs.
The report highlights topics within three key themes: a traveller’s evolving expectations, the guest relationship with regard to digital touchpoints and loyalty programs and hospitality management. The nine key insights developed in the report include:
- Meet My Needs – An Increasing Sophisticated Approach to Decision-Making
- A consumer viewpoint reflective of intertwined rational and emotional criteria, as well as new desires for the types of experiences they want from a hotel.
- The Desire to Seek & Savour – Discovering Differently and Seeking Enriching Experiences
- Across generations and in different ways, travellers are looking for new ways to discover a destination and live new experiences. It is the top-ranking criteria in traveller emotional needs and choice.
- The Desire for Self-Fulfillment – Looking to Re-connect with Self, Re-charge and Enjoy
- The desire to pause the pace, re-charge and indulge means people are seeking options for well-being and more life-enriching moments.
- Cool Community – Wanting to Connect in Style and Be Social
- The desire to live stylish social experiences, connect and belong in a trendy way is a solid and growing part of the market which crosses segments and moves beyond lifestyle brands.
- It’s All About the Tribe – The Growing Movement for Quality Moments Together
- As individuals increasingly focus on seeking community and connection, there is a growing travel aspiration and need to experience special moments together with their loved ones.
- The Right Digital-Human Balance – Seamlessly Optimizing the Client Experience
- The human touch and digital interaction, when blended in the right way, empowers teams to enhance service and client experience, improve personalization and ultimately drive client engagement and greater brand love.
- Expanding Loyalty’s Impact – Adding Value Every Day
- Loyalty programs are transforming to appeal to what guests want and need and are becoming simpler, more personalized and rewarding, enabling clients to do and experience more, drive deeper engagement and forge stronger client relationships.
- The New Talent Mindset – Fulfilling the Desire for Purpose and Self-Expression
- The evolution of talent expectations and priorities drives the need to create a more attractive and engaging workplace with greater flexibility, work/life balance, avenues for self-expression and finding purpose and ensuring teams feel valued.
- Thinking Sustainably Local – Shifting Focus to People, Resources and Sourcing Closer to Home
- Changing perspective and focusing on the local ecosystem by managing more purposefully, locally and efficiently is key to building a more sustainable hospitality model, while reducing risk, bringing numerous operational benefits and offering a more authentic guest experience.
To download the full report, click here.
