4.2 Million Room Nights in Accor Hotels Booked Online as of August 31: A 60% Increase
PARIS, Sept. During the first eight months of the year, 4.2 million room nights in Accor hotels were booked online, the equivalent of 170 hotels a day. At August 31, online bookings in Accor hotels were up 60%, with a 65% increase for Accor sites in Europe. Room nights reserved on the Accor hotel websites (the accorhotels.com portal, as well as the sofitel.com, novotel.com, mercure.com, suite-hotel.com, ibishotel.com, etaphotel.
The percentage of Accor revenues from Internet bookings has steadily increased. For full-year 2003, Accor forecasts Internet business volume of nearly EUR 300 million, or around 5.6% of lodging revenue, compared with EUR 202 million and 3.6% in 2002. The Economy segment accounts for 63% of online bookings, which generate 6% of aggregate Ibis, Etap Hotel and Formule 1 revenues in Europe and 10% of Red Roof Inns and Motel 6 revenues in the United States.
In Australia and New Zealand, where Accor operates separate retail web-sites (
The rate of increase jumped significantly following the launch in May of a new web site which features rates at all Accor hotels and resorts in Australia and New Zealand for the following 60 day period. It makes the Accor web site the most transparent and user friendly web site of any hotel group in the region. The
Most visitors to the different websites are retail customers who generally choose an Accor hotel for leisure travel. In Europe, 42% of visitors to Group sites enter through the
Visitors come from more than 200 different countries. 3 visitors out of 4 comes from outside France:
- France: 25%
- Germany: 18%
- United Kingdom: 10%
- North America: 10%
- Benelux: 9%
- Scandinavia: 3%
- Italy: 3%
- Spain: 2%
- Switzerland: 2%
The Accor hotels most often requested via the Internet include the Sofitel New York, the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, the Novotel New York, the Novotel Lisbon, the Mercure in Rome, the Ibis London Euston, the Ibis in Barcelona, the Formule 1 in Saint Ouen, the Etap Hotel at the Nice Airport, the Motel 6 Las Vegas Tropicana, the Red Roof Manhattan ...
In early summer, the pace of online bookings further accelerated with one room reserved nearly every four seconds via Accor websites.
A major radio and Internet advertising campaign, launched in late June in France and Germany to promote the Accor hotels Smiley Prices, helped to increase the number of visitors to
In first-half 2003, Accor enhanced its online offering and services, for example by:
- Directly displaying the best available price and highlighting discounts.
- Streamlining and speeding the online booking process, with fewer windows and a step-by-step approach.
- Offering last-minute promotions.
- Enhancing hotel presentations with photo albums and large pictures.
- Integrating interactive maps.
- Posting travel guides for more than 60 destinations around the world.
- Featuring special advantages for
accorhotels.com visitors with Air - France, SNCF, Europcar, Thalys and other Accor partners.
By the end of the year,
With 150,000 associates in 140 countries, Accor is the European leader and one of the world's largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services, with two major international activities:
- hotels: nearly 4,000 hotels (450,000 rooms) in 90 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants;
- services to corporate clients and public institutions: 13 million people in 32 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.