The report addresses the behavioural shifts of the last two years, examining the trends which are a natural progression, such as Accreditation Reassurance and Touchless Technology, which accelerated quickly during the contact-light Covid years.

Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, in collaboration with Globetrender, the UK’s leading travel trend forecasting agency and online magazine dedicated to the future of travel, has revealed Hotel Trends for the Viral Age, a report exploring the shifts and innovations taking place in the sector post-pandemic.

With wellbeing high on the agenda for travellers, savvy hotels are working with dedicated medical professionals to ensure guests are taken care of, giving rise to the trend for Health Concierges. Meanwhile, a new trend for Niche Curation, in the form of tightly edited hotel collections, reflects the desire for Instagram-style perfectionism that aligns with specific lifestyles. The final trend, Openings Uplift, reports on the boom in hotel unveilings happening around the world in both alpha locations and remote destinations, providing fresh opportunities for tourism to flourish.

“Together, we wanted to explore how the hospitality industry has changed and evolved since the pandemic took hold in 2020, highlighting positive shifts and innovations that will be here both for the short- and long-term” said Jenny Southan, Editor, Founder & CEO, Globetrender.

Globetrender’s Founder and CEO, Jenny Southan, gleans insights from across the global tourism landscape, exploring behavioural and cultural changes, data and research, mapping the predicted outcomes for a sector that is well into a post-Covid recovery and quickly heading back to 2019 levels of domestic and international travel.

Duncan O’Rourke, Accor’s CEO Northern Europe, said: “Throughout the pandemic we have never stopped looking ahead, adapting to the impact of Covid and planning our recovery. As a result of our rapid response to the pandemic, Accor became the first major hotel group to launch a unique global cleanliness and prevention label – ALLSAFE –representing some of the most stringent cleaning standards and operational procedures in the hospitality world. Today, guests want to have a guarantee of health and cleanliness. It is their primary concern and an expected requirement whenever they travel. Accor addressed these concerns and highlighted our highest standards globally via this professional certification.”

He adds: “Accor is a dynamic business built on agility and innovation, which was crucial during the pandemic. Like Globetrender, we are constantly looking ahead, monitoring shifts in behaviour and trends to anticipate customer needs. The Covid years were a split focus – managing the impact of the crisis today and planning for the recovery tomorrow. Tomorrow is here, recovery is strong and maintaining our people-centric approach to hospitality remains crucial.”

The report also features interviews with Accor’s Richard Short, Vice President Health and Security, Accor Northern Europe, who discusses how the hotel group’s ALLSAFE health and safety protocols protect guests’ wellbeing and peace of mind during their stay.

Hotel Trends for the Viral Age is a Globetrender report produced in association with Accor and ALLSAFE, the hotel group’s cleanliness and prevention standards certification that has been developed with and vetted by Bureau Veritas.

Free to download, the report explores five key trends that have emerged during the pandemic and will continue to shape the future of hotel hospitality for the long-term.

Download the report here