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Accor has unveiled its new-generation ibis hotel.
Monday, 27th April 2015
Source : Accor Hotels

The Group created the ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget brands three years ago, and is pushing ahead with the modern drive that now defines its economy segment.

The ibis family has kick-started a revolution in its market's standards with an in-depth customer-experience revamp, in record time for an international network this size!

The ibis brands' outstanding performance and guest satisfaction metrics are now leading them to take its innovative drive to new heights and thereby cement their leadership by growing their footprint, introducing new concepts and constantly listening to their customers and market.

  • In 2014, over 50% of the hotels that the Accor Group opened belong to the ibis family (1 Ibis
    brand hotel every 3 days).
  • The Ibis brands generate half of the Accor Group's EBIT.
  • Ibis Styles is the world's number-one designer and lifestyle economy brand with more than
    270 hotels, and it is opening 40+ new ones a years.
  • Guests book 1 room every 2 seconds directly on its direct websites.
  • Economy-segment revenue increased 3.7% in 2014 (like for like) and RevPAR gained 4,5%
    (like for like)
  • ibis is introducing its Sweet Room by ibisâ„¢
  • ibis budget is introducing unprecedented services in "low-cost" hotels springing from its
    insights into customers behavior, wants and needs
  • The ibis brands are on-lining ibisjobs.com, their digital showcase for jobs

IBIS DYNAMIC BOOSTS STRONG AND AMBITIOUS DEVELOPMENT

Establishing the ibis brand family in 2011 was the first step towards building a consistent, appealing and powerful portfolio around its values, namely modernity, well-being and simplicity. The ibis brand network - spanning ibis (1,031 hotels), ibis Styles (277) and ibis budget (537) - encompassed 1,845 hotels in 63 countries on January 1, 2015. 

Today, an ibis brand hotel is opening somewhere around the world every three days. In 2014, 54.3% of the hotels that Accor inaugurated belonged to the ibis family (113 hotels). 

ibis has added more than 240 hotels to its network over the past three years and will be opening 400 more during the next three years, to put its total to over 2,200 in 2018. This development pipeline accounts for about half of the Group’s projects worldwide and is principally focused on Asia Pacific (38%), Latin America (30%) and Europe (23%) looking at end-2018. 

During the past four years, the ibis family has cemented its position as number-one worldwide in terms of the number of hotels in its network. 

The ibis Styles brand's unprecedented ramp-up is another example of this position shift's success. It was established as All Seasons in 2007, became ibis Styles in 2011, and this designer and lifestyle brand has built its network from 149 to 277 hotels in the past three years. This network is looking at 86% growth and around 80% of its hotels are operated under franchises. And it is planning to keep up its hearty pace, opening 40 new hotels a year. 

These figures also show that each of these three brands' identities dovetails beautifully with customers' wants and needs as well as franchise-holders' and hotel-owners' expectations.

IBIS DYNAMIC DRIVES TO A NEW CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

"From 2011 to 2014, we radically revamped the design and comfort standards, as well as the digital features. The notions of well-being, modernity and simplicity at the best price are now firmly embedded in our DNA, and address customers' as well as investors' expectations. We have embarked on a constant innovation drive to consolidate the ibis brands' position as the economy segment benchmark worldwide," explains Frédéric Fontaine, the ibis family's SVP Global Marketing.

The new public areas in ibis and ibis budget hotels are still expanding, now reaching around 100 new hotels a year. The Sweet bed by ibis™ bedding concept is also stretching around the world and will grow into over 80% of ibis network hotels by 2017.

The ibis kitchen F&B concept was available In 150 hotels in 2014 and will stretch into more than 400 restaurants by the end of 2015. 

These transformations have helped to enhance customers' perceptions of the brand's up-to-the-minute personality and to heighten satisfaction rates, in particular as regards comfort: around 90% of guests tell us they are satisfied, and that figure has been on a constant upward trend since 2012. (Source: GSS). 

In 2015, the ibis brand is introducing the Sweet Room by ibis™, its new room concept - and the next step after modernizing its public areas. It has imagined this new room and bathroom to treat travelers to an original experience amid designs, shapes and materials inspired by upscale hotels, warm colors, and modular designer furniture and lighting creating a modular wellness cocoon that bends around guests' every want and need. 

Every ibis hotel under construction will feature the Sweet Room by ibis™, which is already available in Rotterdam, Hamburg and Lille. This new room will spread throughout the network when and as new hotels open (40 hotels a year) and in sync with ongoing renovations.

A DYNAMIC CONSTANTLY LINKED TO GUEST EXPECTATIONS AND MARKET TRENDS

"People no longer end up in economy hotels because they have to: now, they stay at economy brands because they think about their options and make the smart choice. These brands have taken a stand: they are blazing new trails and enhancing lifestyles. And, as the world is changing all around us, our role as leader is to stay in touch with the market and customers and to innovate while honoring our commitment on prices," adds Frédéric Fontaine. 

ibis budget made a point of observing and reaching out to its customers, and these exchanges have led to a series of agile innovations tailored to smart travelers who choose to stay at very inexpensive or "low cost" hotels. These all-new amenities add emotional and friendly touches to the traditional "convenience" or "nice price". This initiative is ushering in a new approach to customer relations at ibis budget ibis budget is testing these new features in 17 hotels in 8 countries. They in particular include: 

  • Receptions services with a personal and fun touch encouraging interaction and built around online checkin and a game at the front desk.
  • Traveler tips on a wall where hotel guests and staff are free to post anything they do not want anyone else to miss (restaurants, bars, transportation ideas, museums, etc.).
  • Breakfasts that bend around travelers' needs with express or local treats for the ones who want to connect to the area.
  • Friendly times around a drink, a meal, an event in hotels to put the joy back into journeys.
  • Services to travel light and smart, rearranged around improved design and equipment quality to make life easier for loyal guests (luggage storage and high-tech launderettes).

THE DIGITAL DRIVE TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE

The ibis brands generate over €1 billion in revenue on their own websites, making them the pace-setters in the economy market. In early 2015, ibis.com became the one-stop-shop for bookings in all ibis brand hotels. The extensive choice and the related synergies are building a high-performance platform that is now attracting 68 million visits a year.

The direct-link digital ecosystem (ibis.com, ibis mobile, apps and accorhotels.com) records 1 room booking every 2 seconds.

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