Accor steps up its mobile strategy with a new comprehensive range of innovative solutions

The group revamps its applications and multi-brand mobile booking site
accorhotels.com and launches the ibis family mobile application

2013-02-04 — /travelprnews.com/ — In a drive for ongoing innovation and to anticipate new consumer behavior, Accor has revamped its mobile solutions and now offers its customers an enhanced, more efficient, optimized experience available for every type of mobile device. These solutions will enable clients to book hotels under any circumstances, in particular thanks to geo-location and in full transparency, with hotel videos and factsheets.

Mobile bookings are booming with sales through this channel up 20-fold in just four years. In 2012, Accor’s mobile applications and websites notched up over 10 million unique visitors.

For this reason, a few weeks ago Accor launched the following products for its individual business and leisure customers:

– A new version of the accorhotels.com multi-brand application that allows users to book stays at Accor’s 3,500 hotels in over 90 countries. This application was revamped to offer an enhanced customer experience with a tailored search function, a new, more user-friendly design, hotel video, photo previews and access to reservations.

– A new dedicated ibis family application which allows users to book stays in the ibis family’s 1,600 hotels (ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget). This application is visually appealing, pleasant to use and highly intuitive. It notably includes practical functions like geo-location and hotel previews for easy and efficient booking. It is part of the group’s strategy to modernize and renew the three brands and represents a new, significant stage in ibis’ drive to become the digital benchmark in economy hotels
by 2015.

These applications are available for Android1, iPhone and Blackberry operating systems. The accorhotels.com and ibis.com mobile websites have also been revamped to make them more user-friendly and are also available for over 7,500 different internet-enabled mobile devices.

These applications were designed:
– So users can be sure to find their hotel under any circumstances – several different hotel search methods are available to cater for any situation, including emergencies (offline access is possible):
o using an interactive map with a route planner
o through hotel video previews
o through the geo-location function for last minute bookings
o by typing in the desired destination directly
o by using the history of recent searches or stays
– For greater transparency – the hotel factsheets allow users to check out hotel photos (10,000 photos available on the accorhotels.com application) and services, providing all the information customers need to book.
– For completely secure booking – the mobile solutions use the same secure payment system as accorhotels.com and ibis.com

These new booking channels also deliver the accorhotels.com customer pledge. They guarantee the best available price, the discounts for Le Club Accorhotels loyalty program members and/or business travelers and are also available in several languages (15 languages available on mobile applications).

“Our mobile solutions allow our customers to find a hotel under any circumstances at the best price, with a completely secure system, no unpleasant surprises and directions to get there by the shortest route,” explains Isabelle Birem, Accor Senior Vice-President Direct Sales and Loyalty Program. “The launch of these new mobile solutions is the first stage of our effective mobile strategy and will help us develop stronger relations with our customers.”

Accor, the world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is present in 92 countries with more than 3,500 hotels and 450,000 rooms. Accor’s broad portfolio of hotel brands – Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and hotelF1 – provide an extensive offer from luxury to budget. With more than 160,000 employees in Accor brand hotels worldwide, the Group offers its clients and partners 45 years of know-how and expertise

www.accor.com | www.accorhotels.com

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