Accor creates platform for independent hotels in move against OTAs

French hotel giant Accor is taking a stand against the growing power of online travel agents by opening its website to independent hotels.

French hotel giant Accor is taking a stand against the growing power of online travel agents by opening its website to independent hotels.

The move comes as the company ramps up its digital drive by transforming its AccorHotels.com distribution platform into a marketplace open to a selection of third party hotels.

Independent properties distributed on the AccorHotels.com platform alongside the group’s brand hotels will be selected on the basis of hotel criteria, with guest reviews taken into account.

This service will gradually become available to hoteliers from the end of the month and consumers will be able to access it from July.

The aim is to offer more than 10,000 hotels in 300 key cities worldwide, or a three-fold increase in the number of hotels on AccorHotels.com.

Accor claims it will provide independent hoteliers with a “powerful alternative and qualitative distribution channel” guaranteeing transparent display rules, access to their customer data and competitive commission rates.

The initiative will supplement services developed by Fastbooking, a company taken over by the group last April, within a new B2B digital services activity.

Sébastien Bazin, chairman and chief executive of the newly rebranded AccorHotels, said: “Transforming our distribution platform into an open marketplace is a major initiative for the Group and the result of a new approach to our profession and business model.

“AccorHotels is placing its powerful digital tools at the service of independent hoteliers and increasing the choice available to its customers by adding more hotels and more destinations.

“We are becoming a trustworthy, selective and transparent third party and we are once again amplifying the in-depth transformation undertaken within the group since 2013.

“These initiatives and the launch of the new AccorHotels application are designed to enrich the content of our digital ecosystem and reinforce our position as a hospitality industry pioneer and trailblazer.”

Vivek Badrinath, deputy chief executive of marketing, digital, distribution and information systems, added: “With our digital plan, which is in the midst of its roll-out, the take over of Fastbooking, which allows us to deploy a range of cutting-edge services for hoteliers, and now the opening of a marketplace, AccorHotels is taking the initiative to ensure that the combination of digital experience and hotelier know-how is increasingly effective.”