Accor has unveiled a new loyalty programme called ALL – Accor Live Limitless – that evolves from its Le Club AccorHotels into a “fully integrated platform” delivered through a new app and website.
ALL will offer its members, estimated at around 50 million, access to rewards, services, and experiences across its portfolio of over 30 hotel brands as well as collection of bars, restaurants abd nightclubs.
The new programme will introduce a new premium status, offer enriched benefits, provide worldwide connected experiences with a new digital app, form partnerships and deliver experiences based on the three main passion points of entertainment, dining and culinary, and sports.
To “illustrate these passion points” Accor has extended its partnership with sports and live entertainment company AEG beyond the AccorHotels Arena to include premium venues providing over 60 000 tickets and private suites for its loyalty members in Latin America, Asia and Europe.
The group has also signed a partnership with global sports and talent management company IMG to provide access to chef masterclasses and culinary experiences. Starting in 2020 its members will enjoy the best of Taste Festivals in London, Paris, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and Toronto, with growth and expansion of the partnership into new cities over the next three years.
The global multi-year agreement with French football club Paris Saint-Germain makes ALL the principal partner and official jersey sponsor of the club for the 2019/2020 season.
In announcing the loyalty programme during the presentation of Accor’s 2018 full-year financial results, chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said: “With the launch of ALL, Accor gives life to its augmented hospitality model servicing both its customers and partners. This ambitious and unique initiative in the hotel industry will help promoting the group and its brands, increasing customer loyalty and optimize its mid-term performance.”
The new name ‘Accor’ applies across the group’s 30 brands.
He also revealed the rebranding of ‘AccorHotels’ to ‘Accor’ across its 30 brands to reflect the “augmented hospitality model” of the company that is doing more than just operating hotels with food & beverage, nightlife, wellbeing, concierge services and coworking brands in its portfolio. However, the group’s core activities will still be hotels.
To support these initiatives, Accor will invest €225 million (US$255 million) of the €4.8 billion generated by the Booster operation, with the financial objective of creating €75 million per year of gross operating surplus in the medium term.
Accor stated in its financial statement these investments will facially weight on the group’s consolidated accounts … “The programme is expected to reach breakeven in 2021, then generate an incremental €60 million in 2022 and €75 million per year from then on. The group will therefore exceed its 2022 EBITDA target of €1.2 billion that was presented last November.”
The French hotel group posted record revenue of €3.61 billion, a 16.9% increase over 2017 with net profit (group share) at €2.23 billion. It ended 2018 with a hotel portfolio of 703,806 rooms (4,780 hotels) with 198,000 rooms (1,118 hotels) in the pipeline, 78% of which in emerging markets and 49% in the Asia Pacific region alone. (Accor full FY2018 results)
“Accor 2018 results reflect a profound transformation, marked foremost by the sale of our real estate division and a large number of acquisitions. Our results are clearly improving, with EBITDA, free cash flow generation and organic development all once again at record highs. They are also perfectly in line with our medium-term objectives. Accor’ growth continues: we are increasing our global market share and consolidating our balance sheet. In 2019, the group will continue along this path,” said Bazin.
• Featured image credit (Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour’s infinity pool): Accor
