General Management

In short, no. The era of the hotel chain is not coming to an end as they certainly bring value to the industry in many ways, but the way hotels do business is unquestionably changing. While in the past a hotelier needed to work with a large chain or brand in order to have world-class distribution, in today's environment this is no longer essential to success.

Consumers are progressively depending on technology to plan and book travel, which is driving an increase in the number of technology companies seeking to incorporate distribution solutions into their business model. As a result, this competitive landscape has propelled innovation, while creating a downward pressure on cost to hotels.

Consumers today are more connected than ever, and that doesn't change when they travel. As such, information technology (IT) has certainly moved up to the forefront in our organization over the last few years. It touches almost every discipline, and elements of technology are part of every new initiative.

At the moment, IT in hospitality is still in its early stages of development. Tech products are increasingly considered to be at the basis of a guest-oriented and modern hotel experience. Due to the high demand of specific tech products for the hospitality industry, a growing number of tech service providers are offering ways to directly increase revenue or create a more seamless experience.

We are entering into a new chapter for all businesses that demand a sense of urgency and the attainment of meaningful results on the sustainability front. Accor has long taken the view that we're stewards of our incredible locales, and mitigating our impact is a key priority for Accor, and a responsibility the Group has fully embraced.

The reach of sustainability in the hospitality industry is appropriately growing in response to changing guest expectations. We have our work cut out for us to make progress toward a carbon-neutral future. There is no single solution, but rather a network of strategies, systems, and efforts to chip away at our energy demands and reduce our material usage.

The hospitality industry is in the midst of what I call a Golden Age of Travel. As middle classes expand around the world, more people are traveling than ever, and they are craving unique, authentic experiences. That's an incredible business opportunity that we are rising to meet.

With all the talk of disruptors in industry today like Airbnb, Uber and Amazon, the hotel industry's biggest disruptor was the introduction of the OTA's over 25 years ago. At that point we needed to learn how to do more with less, wear multiple hats, combine positions and become creative to save our bottom line.With a majority of our hotels based in New York City, we've been operating in a prolonged downturn mindset since the recession of 2008, and fortunately for us, we've brought that efficient approach to our other locations worldwide.

Most hotel companies have focussed on distribution changes and the need for more pricing flexibility and the efficiency in changing business processes through the assistance of technology. There is definitely an increased sophistication in both the distribution and technology, possibly better described as evolution then the needed quantum leap to weather the next downcycle.Asset light hotel companies have the challenge in aligning the owning companies and their own efficiencies and benefits.

There has been a lot of analysis recently regarding the expected health of the economy. Most people believe that the economic indicators are pointing downward comparing it with the economic recession the world witnessed in 2008.