10 Accor innovations transforming hospitality

We are always thinking up new ways to surprise you, thrill you, and motivate you to explore new horizons with us. We meet the challenge of offering innovative services and experiences with passion. Discover a selection of 10 of the Group’s innovations to try out.

The smart room, hospitality for all

The idea behind the ″smart room″ conceived by Accor’s Design Solutions department is to combine design and practicality to provide a room for all. The room, designed for people with reduced mobility but not exclusively, has nothing in common with the usual PRM rooms.

As Damien Perrot, Global SVP Design Multibrand explains, ″our ambition is to inspire the hospitality market by offering  a new approach to the PMR room which is often unoccupied, unwelcoming and and stigmatising. We have come up with a room for everyone, putting design and creativity at the service of PMR standards and practices to make them more intuitive so that they disappear and give way to  emotion and sensory experience″.

The innovations found in the smart room include a connected tablet to adjust the lighting or music, close the curtains or tilt the bedhead, a space for clothes with shelves and sliding rods for easy access to clothes or LED motion sensor lighting at the foot of the bed making it safer to get up during the night. An innovative concept that will certainly appeal to its visitors - increasingly demanding flexibility, simplicity and personalization.

Too Good to Go x Accor

We are committed to helping you eat well and fight against food waste through our partnership with the smart and responsible app Too Good to Go. Its message is ″reduce waste, eat cheaply″ and to do this it puts consumers in contact with the shops, restaurants or hotels belonging to the global hospitality leader who want to sell off their unsold food products for a few euros. Over 500 of Novotel, Mercure, ibis, Pullman and MGallery by Sofitel hotels in Europe have been doing this for several years  and participate in upholding the Group’s commitment to reduce food waste by 30%. Since July 2019, 27 Swiss hotels have also joined the movement!

The ultra connected apartment  

In June 2019, Aparthotels Adagio unveiled the apartment of the future by testing a new concept ″connected as well as more modern in terms of architecture and design″. It will feature a personalized and made-to-measure voice assistant, ZAC. In collaboration with the Web school factory and the start-up Vivoka, the brand has conceived not just a home automation tool but a real travel companion that provides multiple services. Just say ″ZAC, I’m going to bed″ and the assistant orders the curtains to be closed, or ″ZAC, I need to relax″ and the lights are dimmed and soft zen music fills the room, helping you to let go. It will also be able to help you to access delivery services or order a taxi, as well as connecting you to shared spaces such as the reception desk, food store or the object library. The first smart apartment was tested by the public at Paris Bercy.

The brand goes further and pushes the boundaries to offer new and innovative hosting solutions to its customers with its "co-living by Adagio" project. The idea? A new form of shared accommodation thanks to which they can stay in groups in the Aparthotels Adagio apartments. A concept that will emerge in the coming years.

Mobile accommodation by Accor

On the ski slopes of Avoriaz, at the Evian Championship, the We Love Green festival or at the 24 hours of Le Mans, these marine containers are able to move between the latest places to be… Flying Nest offers ephemeral, flexible and mobile rooms designed for Accor by Ora-ïto, one of the most celebrated designers of his generation. ″The layout of the islands, the patio and the large windows connecting the interior of each room to the outside all provide guests with a totally immersive accommodation option at the heart of the  experience″, comments Damien Perrot, Global SVP Design Multibrand. Not forgeting everything that goes towards making an Accor bedroom comfortable: air conditioning, Sweet Bed by ibis bedding, Wi-Fi, etc.

And as our teams are constantly pushing back the boundaries, we recently unveiled our new mobile hotel prototype, building on the success of the existing Flying Nest proposition! Its name: The Loft, a concept of nomadic accommodation to offer exclusive experiences right at the heart of events, out in the country or in out-of-the-ordinary locations.

Hotel brewers

Refreshing, unique and responsible! That describes the beer offered by some of the Parisian Mercure hotels which make use of space on their roofs or terraces to cultivate their hops on the spot. They then call upon local brewers to brew and bottle the beer. The hotel teams are given the mission of thinking up a name and designing the label. Since May 2019 the bar at the Mercure Paris Centre Tour Eiffel offers customers its 100 % natural Parisian beer, the ″Beer Hakeim″,  a nod towards the famous Bir Kakeim metro station close to the Eiffel Tower. The Mercure-ibis Paris Montmartre Sacré-Cœur invites you to try its MiM (Made In Montmartre or Mercure-ibis-Montmartre). 

Mobile check-in by ibis

Who said digital is not convivial? ibis is committed to use technology to foster human relations. The brand is transforming itself to promote a vibrant, friendly and resolutely open hospitality for all. Forget the reception desk that creates a distance between the teams and the customers: from now on, the lobby is a large living space where everyone feels at home. In ibis hotels, you are welcomed by a member of the Smile Team, equipped with a tablet or smartphone, to complete the check-in formalities comfortably relaxing in a soft sofa or sipping a drink at the bar. The technology allows teams and guests to connect with each other! The brand hopes to equip the entire network by 2022.

JO&JOE : The flexibility of a youth hostel, the comfort of a hotel

In 2020 Millennials will make a total of 300 million trips across the world and providing them with good accommodation is a real challenge for all the hospitality sector. That’s why Accor has worked with the people concerned to come up with an accommodation solution that is convivial, fun and adapted to all budgets. This is how JO&JOE the new generation Open House was born in 2016 : ″a house open to the outside, easy to reach and friendly, created to satisfy the demands of Millennials and anyone who adopts their codes of sharing, spontaneity and experience″. With a group of friends, choose the dormitory or ″Together″; for a family, choose one of the ″Yours″, private rooms sleeping up to 5 people. In the OOO ("Out of Ordinary Room") rooms, an unexpected and unforgettable design awaits you. The cabins are ideal for those who hesitate between a bunk bed in a dormitory and a private room.

Swap recipes in the shared kitchen or face each other during a game of ping-pong or petanque on the Playground. The first address opened in June 2017 on the Atlantic coast at the surfers’ paradise Hossegor, and the second in April 2019 just outside Paris! Coming shortly to Paris Nation, Vienna, Budapest, Glasgow, London, Rome and Rio de Janeiro…

A rejuvenating retreat in the Vitality Room

At Swissôtel Vitality is more than just a program: it reflects Swissôtel’s brand ethos to be open, energetic, happy and passionate. The brand’s hotels welcome guests all over the world looking for tranquility, comfort and serenity to increase their vitality. Swissôtel has thus created the Vitality Room in collaboration with like-minded partners: a signature guestroom. From the choice of materials through to the different layouts and services proposed, everything in this room has been designed for it to be a serene and stylish sanctuary, with tailored wellness features.

Among them, the “Wellbeing Wall” includes free weights of various sizes, horizontal bars and cable-pull systems for the perfect workout. And to recharge your batteries after your session, the Vitality Room features blackout blinds, discreet technology, bespoke bath and shower featuring coloured lighting, scent options and various water pressures. Wellbeing is often to be found in the details!

Sleep Serenity

Jet lag, the hectic pace of life, uncomfortable bedding or urban noise pollution make a good night’s sleep a real luxury nowadays. That’s why Raffles Raffles has come up with some original rituals or "Sleep Rituals" to gently ease you into the arms of Morpheus. These include a sleep-inducing Deep Relax oil made by the  luxury beauty brand Aromatherapy Associates, a delicate Dreamsoft® linen cushion, an hourglass engraved with your name to help you fall asleep and a menu specially designed for better quality sleep. Would you like to take off for a dream night? Book a stay at the Raffles Dubai, the Raffles Makati, the Raffles Seychelles or the Raffles Europejski Warsaw.

Coworking at the hotel

The coworking market has grown by 24% since 2016 and the demand for adapted and edgy places to work remains strong! That’s why the first Wojo space was opened in 2018 at the Mercure Montmartre in Paris. This Wojo Corner offers mobile workers a connected workspace, services such as printing, meeting rooms or call boxes, hot drinks and snacks on demand, access to a business community of 5,000 members and as a bonus, a terrace to work in the open air in the summer! Wojo, short for ″Work″ and ″Mojo″, is an example of the Group’s newAugmented Hospitality strategy, built on the cornerstones of Life, Play and Work. The object is to become the biggest European coworking network by 2022 with the opening of more than 1,000 Wojo coworking spaces in the Group’s hotels. Tempted by Workspitality?