The Future of Hospitality

“Augmented Hospitality is hospitality reimagined not as a place or service, but as a refined vision of tailor made services anticipating a customer’s every need. It’s about designing tomorrow.”

Over the years hotel guests have evolved and no longer is being handed a big metal key over the counter considered enough of a welcome! Fully equipped rooms with soft beds and ensuite facilities are the order of the day. Guests have come a long way and expect interaction, fun and entertainment as a part and parcel of the hotels they check into.

Faced with customers that crave immersive experiences, overnight accommodation is no longer an end in itself. Throwing in some extra hotel nights is an outdated concept. Hotels needed to become a genuine living space, a place where business travellers, tourists, and especially people living and working in the neighbourhood, could mingle. Whether they live in the city or are visiting, they could come for the laid-back atmosphere, design, and connectivity, as well as services or locations with multiple uses that could play host to exhibitions, concerts, or unique experiences.

Accor, comprising 300,000 hospitality experts taking care of millions of guests in its 5,000 addresses, reshaped its core business around the idea of “Augmented Hospitality”. Accor is the story of two friends, Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson, who opened their first Novotel in 1967 at a time when no one in France yet believed in this new hotel business model. Through their creativity and boldness, they pushed the boundaries of what is possible ever further. In over 50 years, they strengthened the core capabilities and created a wider and complementary brand portfolio. 

However, augmented hospitality itself continues to evolve with customer journeys, often crossing over between industries. This blurring means that augmented hospitality is increasingly about understanding and emulating life and connecting touchpoints to accommodate more holistic customer journeys. The proposed customer experiences are better curated based on their particular needs. In a city such as Paris, where Accor is a leading lifestyle brand, its customers can benefit from its ever-expanding portfolio of experiences whether they find themselves in live, work, or play modes.

Live, Work, Play: a new brand architecture to mirror Accor’s aim to bring Augmented Hospitality to life 

Accor has unlocked experiences and possibilities not just in travel, to offer lifestyle experiences with activities clustered into three categories.

Þ   “Live” encompasses its hospitality brands and reflects its vision for hotels as places that cater to local communities’ daily wants and needs.

Þ   “Work” covers the brands catering to growing demand for coworking services.

Þ   “Play” captures the amazing entertainment opportunities provided through its brands – including Potel & Chabot, Paris Society, the pioneering sbe group and thousands of restaurants and bars in our hotels around the world.