Excited about Middle East opportunity, Accor’s CCO to focus on revenue management, pricing discipline and distribution partnerships
After 12 years of living in Singapore, a full cycle in the Chinese calendar, Kerry Healy, who took up her new role of (wait for this, it’s a long one) Chief Commercial Officer, Premium, Midscale & Economy Division, Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Asia Pacific, Accor, is relocating to Dubai.
And in many ways, it’s life turning full circle on Healy who, when she was two or three years old, lived in Kinshaha, where Accor has just opened its latest property in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the fourth one in the country, Novotel Kinshasa La Gombe, which opened on September 25. This, along with more than 1,000 other hotels, are under Healy’s watch in the new role she took up in January.
Kerry Healy: “I thank my parents who treated their three children as equals and I was raised to believe I could do anything I wanted to do.”
Born in the UK, Healy remembers moving with her parents every two years. “We lived in Papua New Guinea, Kinshaha, Dublin, Galway and Edinburgh, before moving to Sydney – all these places gave me an appetite for travel, people and cultures, and adaptability was instilled into me.”
Hence, she sees this relocation to Dubai as just another new beginning in her nomadic life. “I have spent 12 years in Singapore and know the markets in South-east Asia. I lived in the EMEA region a long time ago and I am interested in re discovering those markets to understand their full potential.
“And change is good, growth comes from change, my son is in university, and I have no one to think about now,” she laughs.
And no one can deny the growing promise of the Middle East, underpinned by the incredible investments in tourism happening in Saudi, which is lifting the entire region. Certainly, one could draw comparisons between this current surge and the initial gold rush that unfolded in Dubai two decades ago.
However, observed Healy, “it’s crucial to emphasize that today’s exceptional allure, comprehensive offerings and soaring demand are direct outcomes of the remarkable strength, resilience, and proactive initiatives spearheaded by the Department of Economic Tourism Dubai (DET Dubai)”.
Observers close to the region say it’s different and on another scale altogether. For one, the Saudis have money and for another, they can learn from the mistakes made and it’s a whole new time and generation.
Said Healy, “I am excited to go into a new market that is booming with opportunity. There are giants that underpin Asia – India and China. Both regions have similarities – they need a lot of inbound but largely speaking, in Asia Pacific, there are large domestic markets, Indonesia, Japan, China and Australia.
“While the Middle East traditionally relies on long-haul travel from international markets like France, Germany, and the UK, there is a growing appetite for intra-regional travel within the Middle East. This trend, driven by both business and leisure purposes, is expected to intensify with the repositioning of Saudi Arabia. Not only will Saudi Arabia become an enticing regional destination, but it will also emerge as a significant source market for the rest of the region. Qatar is repositioning itself, UAE has a very solid tourism strategy, then you have Turkey and Egypt. It’s a melting pot of cultures and there’s natural connectivity through the major hubs linking the US and Europe to Asia.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to tap into the key point of sales and drive the traffic flows.”
Leisure distribution strategy being reviewed, B2B space needs consolidation
With her region accounting for two thirds of the world’s population and a total of 1,001 hotels (Premium, Midscale and Economy brands) across 16 brands and growing, I had to ask Healy, “How do you wrap your tiny arms around such a scale?”
“With great elasticity,” she quipped.
“Look, it’s about the team and getting the most out of the collective intelligence of the local teams, in-country teams and the corporate team, it takes incredible discipline and focus to create a fair level playing field in our distribution, by working with strong distribution partners, strengthening our own channels, leaning into the expansion of our lifestyle loyalty programme, ALL-Accor Live Limitless , building our brands, such as Pullman, Novotel and ibis, and leveraging our partnerships.
“We need to get better at doing some of the basics.”
She cited a focus on professionalising revenue management by modernising systems, tools and processes, ramping up content marketing and local activities to ride on the segmentation shift and digital adoption by bringing back marcoms professionals to property, and rebuildiing the brands.
“ALL.com was launched in 2019 and the world stopped. We need to get better at how our brands fit into the ALL – Accor Live Limitless lifestyle loyalty programme. We have been in survival mode the past few years, however, now we are in recovery mode and we can think about the right level of play – to drive performance, build the brand and maximise the opportunity.”
The focus on revenue management is super important at a time when the market is so confusing and fragmented, said Healy. “Everyone’s getting the same content from different pipelines; we will reevaluate our leisure distribution strategy over the upcoming year to optimize and enhance efficiency.
“We will still work with bonafide tour operators, we need to consolidate the B2B space and we will work with global OTAs and connect with relevant local players. There is no going back on the local strategy, something we developed and strengthened during the pandemic – which is why, even without the full return of China, our recovery in APAC has been so robust.”
Lesson from South-east Asia – clarity on pricing across all channels
And clearly there are lessons that can be applied from South-east Asia to the Middle East, which has similar digital characteristics. One example is launching a rate shopping tool, by Fornova, in the Middle East, that will enable hotels to have clear visibility on pricing across all channels.
“We launched it in Asia and it worked really well. We saw huge growth in web direct channels as well as in our member rates, and since launching in the Middle East, it’s working really well too. In the past, we have been offering an exclusive ALL-Accor Live Limitless member rate in the Middle East, however it was often undercut because there was no visibility on pricing. A clear pricing strategy allows you to work your segmentation mix.”
It will also harmonise marketing activities, having held its first Asia Pacific private sale this year, and next year, it will roll out the campaign in the Middle East to bolster lean periods.
Getting rate discipline across 1,001 hotels cannot be easy – you could whack people with a huge stick – but Healy prefers the carrot approach. “It comes through education, awareness, bringing people on the journey and repetition. And when they see results, then it becomes easier. Bringing in the voice of the external customer – people like you – is also important.
“We have had seven to eight months of gathering collective intelligence from across the hub, and we are taking best practices from each region, and starting to share with each other.”
She highlighted the adoption of the Atiom app, described as behavioral technology designed to transform the deskless workforce. “The app was launched across Asia in 2022 and has been instrumental in engaging with our front-of-house team members, it has been game changing!”.
According to her, this tool represents one of the best practices developed in recent years for enhancing engagement and learning among frontline team members. The inclusion of five-minute interactive modules on various subjects has indeed proven to be a transformative addition.
The changing role of sales and commerce in hospitality
Having been in sales and commercial roles most of her career, Healy has seen huge changes in the evolution of the hotel sales force. How does she see this changing in future? “I believe we will have smaller sales teams in the future, the portfolio of strategic customers will get smaller and there will be less individual contracting. Partners will continue to get disrupted – the corporate travel space is interesting, you have OTAs competing with TMCs, it will be interesting to see what eventuates there.
“You will always have the MICE team for the relevant hotels, that’s a different type of sales. In tour operators, there’s a lot change in that segment, most are looking at hybrid models. TMCs are buying from aggregators like Hotelbeds or Expedia. There is no linear distribution anymore. So we need to change the skillsets we need. Sales staff need to be more digitally-oriented.”
And she believes everyone needs to be open to learning. “Reading articles, attending conferences – it’s amazing what you can learn.”
Her biggest task is building her team – currently around 150 people – to take on all these challenges, after the various transformational phases they have gone through, Healy included. “Yes, we’ve been through a lot of transformations and each time, it’s given me a new opportunity to learn. I find change quite exciting because with change, comes growth.
“What we need now is stability to execute on the solid vision for what our division can do. We are operating in markets with huge development opportunities. We need stability and clarity on revenue management and distribution – working with the right partners in the right markets – to accelerate our performance. I am genuinely excited by the opportunity.”
And if you know Healy, who knew she wanted to be in hospitality from a young age, you know she’s a fighter. She recalled an interview she had with a male mentor, not long after she graduated from hotel school in Australia. “He asked me what I wanted for my future and when I answered, he said, ‘by that time, you’ll have children, why are you thinking so far ahead?’
“I thank my parents who treated their three children as equals and I was raised to believe I could do anything I wanted to do.”
Note: Kerry Healy will be speaking at the WiT Conference, Oct 2-4, on a panel titled “Hospitality: Balancing Tech with Human Touch”.
