AccorHotels became a viable contender for upscale meetings in
North America with its 2016 acquisition of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, and the
hotelier is looking to leverage Fairmont's strong reputation to introduce
buyers and planners to some of its other meetings-oriented brands. "Fairmont
is the anchor and the gateway to introducing Sofitel and Pullman and our other
brands," said Accor SVP of global sales Markus Keller. "That's kind
of opposite the case in the rest of the world."
Prior to acquiring Fairmont, Accor's brands focused mainly on
leisure and business travelers. The merger of Fairmont's loyalty programs and
the engagement of Accor's global sales force, including incentives for referrals,
are key to cross-selling these other brands for meetings, said Fairmont regional
director of sales and marketing Anne Marie Johns.
Educating planners about brand differentiators is another key.
Sofitel, for example, is known for its French style in food and beverage, as
well as service, which extends to the custom menus and food experiences offered
to its target market of conferences under 300 attendees. "Sofitel is very
complementary to the Fairmont brand," Accor Luxury Brands CEO Chris Cahill
said at the Accor Global Meetings Exchange in Montreal. The longtime gathering
of Fairmont hoteliers and meeting planners occurred under the banner for Accor for
the first time last year.
Accor's Partnership with C2
RFID wristbands to guide attendees from session to session. Mimes
shooing along stragglers. A meeting in an adult-size ball pit. All were part of
the preview of the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth's innovative C2 Espace conference
center that was presented at AccorHotels' recent Global Meetings Exchange in
Montreal.
A collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, the conference center
includes offbeat but high-tech meeting spaces designed as a "canvas for
human experiences" in the words of Jean-Francois Bouchard, the founder
of C2 Montreal, a business conference.
Breakout rooms feature swings and a maze of beads hanging from
the ceiling. A boardroom features a round table partially encircled by a
wall-size video screen that can be programmed to change the look and feel of
the room. Conventional meeting rooms also have a creative bent, such as billiards
and foosball tables for breaks. "We think of hotels not as a collection of
rooms and amenities but places where immersive experiences can be developed,"
Bouchard said.
The 13-room conference center, on the hotel's 21st floor, was
part of the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth's $140-million renovation, completed in
mid-2017. Leadership boot camps, the first groups to utilize the venue, will meet
there in May. Accor has no current plans to add additional C2 conference centers to
other Fairmont properties, but is partnering with technology firm PSAV to put a
fresh face on existing meetings facilities.
Pullman's "work hard, play hard" ethos, typified by its
high-concept Junction lobby, appeals to startups and companies with youthful
leadership. The Junction was unveiled at the Pullman Bangkok King Power last
year and features spaces for work, socializing and dining. Accor has more than
14,000 new rooms in the pipeline with Pullman, and many of the new-build
Pullman hotels feature significant meeting space. "Pullman is one of our
fastest-growing brands and especially strong for upscale meetings," Cahill
said.
Accor continues to invest in Fairmont meeting spaces, from the
innovative C2 Espace conference center at Montreal's recently renovated
Fairmont Queen Elizabeth (see sidebar)
to a complete renovation of the meeting space at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler
and a planned addition of 6,000 square feet to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Cahill
said only seven luxury hotel new builds are underway in North America, and yet meeting
organizers still are attracted to what's new.
Accor's View on Cuts to Meetings Commissions
Accor has no plans to follow Marriott's lead in reducing from 10
percent to 7 percent the commissions paid to meeting planners in the U.S. and
Canada, but that could change if the lower commission rate becomes an industry
trend. "The easy answer is: There is no change" to Accor's commission
policy, Cahill, told attendees at the conference. "Marriott is highly
experimental in its partner relationships, and it will remain to be seen if the
industry follows suit."
Jeff Doane, Accor SVP of sales and marketing for North and Central
America, added, "We're not going to be second on this, but Hilton and
Hyatt will be and then it will be an industry standard." That could lead
Accor to reconsider its stance. "There's been significant growth in
third-party bookings in North America, and as it became a higher and higher
percentage, Marriott made a decision because it becomes too significant to
ignore," he said. "We have seen this, too."
On the other hand, he said, Accor recognizes that
selling an event at an Accor property differs from selling a Marriott meeting.
That perspective could argue in favor of maintaining a higher commission scale.
"We are much more focused on culture and creating experiences, and that
requires more effort on the sales side," Doane said.