Accor offers its partners in the tourism industry (travel agencies, tour operators, coach holiday operators, etc) a dedicated digital solution that will allow them to book rooms directly for groups of 15 to 60 people (8 to 30 rooms).

This service, which is very user friendly and designed like a booking engine for the general public, allows users:

• to consult single, double and twin room availability in real time
• automatic access to the best available rate
• to pre-book directly in the hotel's system

Users will access this service via the "Professional Solutions" tab in the "Tourism" section of the accorhotels.com portal. It will be deployed by end 2015 in Accor's primary leisure group establishments (500 to 600 hotels).

In 2014, the rollout will focus will be on key European destinations, notably France, Germany and the United Kingdom, before the service is expanded to Asian destinations in 2015. The hotels concerned cover all market segments, from luxury to economy.

This new service is available in seven languages: French, English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch.

From the beginning of April, users will also be able to book additional services, for example dinner and luggage management. This solution is Accor's response to changing market and customer requirements and notably to its customers' desire to obtain information as quickly as possible.

Jean-Claude Balanos, Accor VP Leisure Sales comments "For the first time, a hotel group is introducing a solution that considerably simplifies the unwieldy leisure group booking procedure, saving time for both tourism professionals and our own teams."

Carlo Olejniczak, Accor Senior Vice President Global Sales, points out that "The leisure group market is essential for Accor. Between 2012 and 2013 revenue generated by this market via our 33 international sales offices increased by close to 9%." He adds that "another growth and market indicator: the number of online booking requests from leisure groups, has grown by 33% since 2012."

The brands favored for this kind of stay are Pullman, Novotel, Mercure and ibis. Accor's multi-brand hotel offer in 92 countries is well-suited to the leisure group market which is very international and generally driven by Japanese and Asian customers.