1967 1980 2015 1973 Accor started life as SIEH Company, established by Paul Dubrule and Gerard Pelisson, which opened the first Novotel ho t e l i n Lil l e , F r ance Accor entered the international market with the opening of a hotel in Warsaw, Poland, followed by the UK, Holla n d, Germa n y and t h e U S . It had nearly 200 hotels in 22 countries. It had approximately 510,000 rooms in 3,900 hotels across 17 international brands in 92 countries, operating across six continents. Accor appointed Sebastien Bazin as its fifth CEO in 8 2013 years. Acco r Timeline Accor Strategy Accor had been on an “asset- light” strategy with plans to offload a large portion of its owned hotels to reach a new mix of 40% managed, 40% franchised, and 20% owned
Midscale Economy/Budget F o c u sed o n bo t h b usiness and leisu r e t r a v eller s t o o f f er spacious, a dapt a b le rooms, meals available 24/7, meeting rooms, fitness centres, and children-friendly areas Price - €87 Offering quality accommodation at competitive local value. “15 Minutes satisfaction Guarantee” Price - €57 L uxury & Up s cale th e ir locations Decorated by well- kn o w n d e si g n e r s and e c h oin g the histo r y and e n vi r o n me n ts of by mixin g a u th en t icity and tradition. Price - €132 Customer Segments Competitors Hotel Chain Number of hotels Number of rooms Accor 3,900 510,000 Wyndham 7,812 678,042 InterCon 5,032 744,364 Hilton 4,322 708,268 Marriott 4,061 692,828 Starwood 1,256 354,917 Collaborators Airlines Cruise Lines Food and Beverages Travel Agents
Question 1 : Content and the Customer Journey What are the different types of online content in the hotel industry In 21 t h cen tu r y w hi l e t r ans f orming b usiness ac t i v i t y f r o m t r ad i t ional w o r ld t o digi t a l w o r ld c o n te n t h as i m por t a nc e . online g a i ned Hotel indus t r y i s not exception to it. H o w e v e r , that con tent readable must be engaging, and con siste n t . Helps to Build Backlinks Strengthen your Bond with your customers Generate leads for the business 01 Builds a Brand Awareness/Build Hotel Brand 02 03 Great for Digital Marketing solution 04 Educate Audience 05 06
Question 2 : How to Leverage Content 02 01 03 How can Accor collect information about what the customer is saying about Accor, whether at the beginning, during, or after the trip? Social Media Listening Social Media Travel Blogs R e vi e w W e bs i tes Setting Google Alert 3 rd Party Journey Mapping Common traits between customer expectations and business requirements. T ra dit ional W a ys Front Desk Reviews In room reviews Feedback forms
Should it continue to rely on client feedback cards filled in either at the front desk in the room? No, accor should not rely on client feedback cards filled in either at front desk or in the room because customers a lign e d t o r e a ding r e vi e ws r e v i e w w e b s ites and so cia l are more online on media.
How can accor encourage and motivate customers to share their experiences and views? Providing great experience Listen to guests pati e n t l y Mail after their stay and request feedback Show gratitude after feedback and request to share online Give different platforms to review Send Apology mail for any negative feedback Colla bo r ate with online review websites Hiring experienced customer service representatives 01 07 06 05 04 03 02 08
The rise of online travel agencies (OTAs) New competitors like Airbnb Challenges A fragmented customer journey
Digital Transformation Initiatives Redesigning its website Launching a mobile app Investing in social media Creating a unified customer database
Relevant content at every stage of the customer journey Content Marketing Strategy Creating and distributing high-quality content Using social media for distribution and engagement
Results Website traffic increased by 200% Social media following increased by 300% Direct bookings through the website increased by 20% Loyalty program membership increased by 30%
Website traffic: 100 million visitors in 2015, 200 million visitors in 2020 Social media following: 10 million followers in 2015, 30 million followers in 2020 Direct bookings: 20% in 2015, 40% in 2020 Loyalty program membership: 10 million members in 2015, 30 million members in 2020 Numbers and Percentages
Lessons Learned Put the customer at the center of everything Focus on improving the customer experience
Thank you for your time and attention 🙂
Loyalty P r o g r a m s Offers Ease of p a ym e nt on website More options on website How can Accor use content to attract customers to its website for booking, so that it does not have to pay the hefty 20% to 30% commission fees demanded by OTAs like Booking.com?
How should Accor curate the information? How could Accor make use of such information to influence the customer journey? Sha r ing b e s t pic t u r e s cli c k e d by guests on official F ac e b ook a n d Instagram pages with special mention P a r t n e ring w i th “I n f lue n ce r s ” on Social Media for Co-Benefit Google targeted ads to promote short v ide o s o n Y ouTu b e Offering discounts to first time customers if the booking is made through their website. Offering brand loyalists targeted and personalized discounts through email promotions Timely access to the feedback from the customer will help in working on negative feedback constructively in turn building customer trust and credibility as a brand. Making the website SEO friendly by making use of information collected from sources Leveraging the Review-Reputation- Pricing relationship for promotional content and discounts Being Consistent with Service Efforts to search for honest feedback during a customer stay at property and being quick in action to resolve in case of any problem.
Building and Maintaining the Brand Image Constant interaction with the followers through the following: Popular destinations to travel Festive promotional discounts Their success story and historical progress Building a brand community on the Facebook Social Media page to give the brand loyalists a sense of community belongingness. Knowing when a particular hashtag is trending on Instagram and making promotional content around that and deliver timely. Responding to customer queries on online platforms and review websites in a stipulated time to build trust and credibility. Reposting the Best Content Reposting pictures of food and drinks, taken by happy guests at their F&B outlets on their Instagram handle. Reposting a celebrity, influencer check-in using the hotel’s hashtag, and giving shout-out to people having a good time periodically on Social Media
Becoming a content-driven organization and should SML be centralized? "How much does company culture matter to a successful content marketing approach, and what type of culture is required for success?" Be obsessed with listening to the customers Training is a continuous process and the show must go on The rules and rule makers must be crystal clear Optimizing content around customer journey
Building a centralized social media listening control room The company will gain many benefits by centralizing the SML at one place using a control room. This will allow the company to listen to the consumers, engage better with the customers and inspire employees to move towards digital transformation. Engaging Listeni n g In s pi r ing
Additional Information Audience relevance is number one when it comes to content effectiveness at 58% , but compelling storytelling takes a strong second place at 57% 63% of marketers are creating content with buyer persona in mind above all else. B2B marketers are convinced blogging is their most important type of content (43%) while B2C marketers are convinced visual content is more important (45%). 25% of marketers do not outsource their content creation. 45% of content creation is done on an ad-hoc basis. 71% of companies have a team that will ensure proper blogging conduct, audience r e a ction, etc . The top three content marketing tactics are blogging (65%), social media (64%), and case studies (64%).
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING ACCOR! Enjoy your stay! Assisted By: Group 1 Lakshya Mongia – C027 Akhilesh Kulkarni – A010 Ayush Sharma – B014 Parth Kanetkar – B041
Problems faced by Hotels Shift in Power Customers focusing on Reviews Reviews used as differentiation factors Rise of Online Content Pu r e R e vi e w W e bs i tes People posting reviews on social media Customer Testimonials Travel Blogs Website posts Online Travel Agents Managing Online Content Social Media Listening Content Creation Content published by Hotel User-generated content Focusing on reviews