On the evening of Jan 21, Accor held three parties on three separate continents to celebrate its ibis brand’s 1000th hotel globally. At 12:30am (GMT +8), ibis Basuki Rahmat Surabaya, Indonesia, ibis Kurfurstendamm Berlin, Germany and ibis Botafogo Rio De Janeiro, Brazil were simultaneously online, for a celebratory tele-conference party.
The party at ibis Basuki Rahmat in Surabaya, Indonesia was centered on the theme of “with ibis, now the best place to sleep is everywhere” (whether in winter wonderland or in the tropical rainforest, as pictured right).
What better way to kick off this party than to showcase a video trailer of the challenge they set adventurers Aaron Chervenak and Gareth Jones: to sleep on top of Devil’s Mountain in the Amazon (see full video here) on the signature SweetBed
Covering over 47% of Accor’s hotel network, the ibis brand which was strategically brought together two years ago, sees to it that all ibis guests across the world gets a standardized experience, regardless of whether they are in Bratislava, Slovakia or in Surabaya, Indonesia. Accor targets that it will launch at least 75 Ibis properties in Asia Pacific by 2015.™ by ibis.
The fact that Surabya was chosen as one of the three venues for the global party is indicative of Accor’s interest in Indonesia.
Gerard Guillouet, Accor’s Senior Vice President Malaysia, Indonesia & Singapore (pictured left) said that Accor was very proud to play a part in leading Indonesia’s growth in tourism. “Accor is the biggest international hospitality group in Indonesia with over 70 properties across the country, and with over 50 hotels, ibis is our biggest brand here.”
With 8.7 million international tourist arrivals and US$9.5 billon of expenditure collected in 2013, tourism is the fifth largest contributor to Indonesia’s economy.
Bapak Sapta Nirwanda, Vice Minister, Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy, Indonesia (pictured centre) said that the transfer of knowledge, technology and quality of services brought in by international brands such as Accor helps to improve connectivity and standards of tourism in the country. Concepts like ibis’ “15 min policy” help make the staying experience a much more pleasant one, indirectly promoting the destination to a guest, he said.
The Indonesia Ministry of Tourism has set a target of 40 million domestic and 23 million international tourist arrivals for 2015. This significantly increases the need for competition among the country’s tourism & hospitality companies.
While traditional domestic travellers are still dependent on physical information sheets provided by travel agents, young Indonesian travellers and international travellers have moved beyond that.
The Indonesian market is one of the most active on mobile (especially Blackberry) and many are turning to crowdsourcing online for information before making a travel decision. Brands and destinations have to work harder to attract these well (and sometimes, over-) informed consumers and Ibis, as a budget brand, is perfectly pitched to cater to these new Indonesian consumers looking for companies to serve them, and engage with them differently.
• Save the date, WIT Indonesia will return to Jakarta on April 23.
