Focus shifts to hybrid weddings

COVID-19 has disrupted hospitality, especially for weddings, bleisure, and small M!CE demands for top destinations, opines Mark Willis, CEO-IMEA Region, Accor.

Aglobal disruption like COVID-19 has not just changed but transformed the hospitality business. Change is driving growth, creativity and innovation at Accor. “As we speak, we currently have 26 properties (5,146 keys). Over the next 24 months, we are expecting to add six new properties to the network,” shares Mark Willis, Chief Executive Officer, India, Middle East, Africa, and Turkey for Accor. Accor currently operates 55 properties across India and South Asia with 10,306 keys. As per him, India is showing strong signs of recovery. Accor received a successful response for Raffles Udaipur last year, while its mid-scale and economy brands—Novotel and Ibis—continue to maintain a high brand recall. As the brand continues to strengthen its portfolio in the country,

ECONOMY BRANDS

We are looking at opportunities to continue our expansion in the Indian market. Our mid-scale and economy brands, Novotel and ibis, have an extremely high brand recall in India and a strong focus on the meetings and conventions market, as well as the wedding and social market. The Novotel network, with 21 operational hotels, forms the largest network of mid-scale hotels in the country, with hotels in key cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, and Hyderabad. We are also looking for the right partners as we expand our luxury brands.

DOMESTIC TRAVEL

With evolving guidelines still in place for international travel, domestic travel will be leading the charge in meeting the business and leisure staycation, workcation, and small M!CE demands for top leisure destinations.

BOOM OF BLEISURE

As we come out of travel restrictions, companies are starting to resume their in-person meetings and events. These gatherings are smaller in format and not as frequent, which reduces the requirements for corporate travel. Alongside the above, we have also seen an increase in travel being used to combine both business and pleasure (bleisure) by staying in a hotel or serviced apartment with loved ones and continuing to work remotely. Hence, we are seeing an increase in demand for long-stay accommodation.

CUSTOMISATION IS KEY

Since the beginning of 2022, we have seen a surge in M!CE. This will continue in the coming months as most businesses are gathering their teams for small events or meetings. To fulfill new requirements, Accor offers customised packages with flexible booking and cancellation policies. We partnered with Microsoft to launch ALL CONNECT, a hybrid meeting concept that enables guests around the world to adapt to the new ways of working supported by Microsoft Teams.

WEDDINGS GO HYBRID

The pandemic has brought many changes with it in the hospitality industry, especially for weddings. Novotel, one of Accor’s brands, conceptualised “Vivaah by Novotel” for contemporary virtual weddings, a concept that extends a hybrid approach to the festivities while offering an array of customised and flexible packages.

THERE IS A POSITIVE DEMAND PICKUP IN M!CE AND CORPORATE BUSINESS