The changes, announced by chairman and CEO, Denis Hennequin, aim to “establish Accor as the world reference in the hotel industry capable of inventing the hotels of the future”.

“Our ambition is reflected through a new signature: “Open New Frontiers in Hospitality” and through stronger identity symbols. Our objective is to offer a new, unique hotel experience with repositioned brands and modern, innovative services.”

The first step sees it leveraging its scale in the economy hotel segment – 1,400 hotels in four continents, excluding Motel 6 – and putting it all under one Mega brand, Ibis, with three brands – ibis, which remains ibis, all seasons, which will become ‘ibis styles’, and Etap Hotel, which will become ‘ibis budget’.

The former president of McDonald’s Europe and the man credited with the American fast food chain’s success in France, possibly its most challenging market, said, “I have decided to challenge some of the basics of our business model: change is not an option, it is a necessity.”

He said that with the group’s international leadership, “we will revolutionize our economy brand portfolio around the ibis brand, which benefits from unrivalled worldwide notoriety.

“Consequently, ibis, Etap hotel and all seasons will evolve into a group of three strong, innovative, modernized brands and become ibis, ibis styles and ibis budget. “ibis” is now the keystone of our economy portfolio.”

Explaining the rationale behind the Ibis strategy, the company said, “Consumer expectations have evolved significantly. The vertical segmentation of economy to upscale brands is a thing of the past. Now, all brands must be able to project a self-enhancing image to their customers and offer modern, contemporary, stylish services.”

Hence, Accor felt that the group’s economy hotel products and services needed to be re-invented so they could go beyond their market segment and cater for the changes in consumer expectations.

The implementation of this new segmentation – which will be completed worldwide by early 2013 – will increase the clarity, consistency and strength of the three economy brands, will enable Accor to achieve critical mass in several markets and will also boost each brand’s notoriety and growth potential.

A vast communication campaign will accompany this rebranding in 2012. Its objective will be to capitalize on the image of the ibis Mega Brand by highlighting the shared DNA through three structuring concepts: modernity, simplicity and well-being, while clearly differentiating the distinct offers of each of the three economy brands.

Said the company, “ibis, ibis styles and ibis budget intend to become the brands that offer the highest level of comfort and well-being in the economy hotel segment.

“A plan to modernize the hotels and improve bedding comfort will be implemented. We will proceed to a reconfiguration of common areas, food & beverage offer and consumer technologies so that the hotels correspond to new trends and meet the expectations of tomorrow’s customers.”

With Accor now a pure-player hotel group’s brand, Hennequin believes the time is right “to redefine its objective and missions”.

The new tagline “Open New Frontiers in Hospitality” reflects the group’s aspiration to regenerate the spirit of innovation that is inscribed in the company’s genes and imagine new forms of hospitality, notably digital ones.

The Accor brand will now play a larger role, particularly with the general public, and particularly in distribution.

The company said that in the Internet battlefield, “which is crucial to the future of the hotel business”, it will be associated with the most strategic direct distribution channel, namely Accorhotels.com, and with the loyalty program A|Club renamed Le Club Accorhotels.

The new strategy will be announced to industry partners at an event in Singapore tomorrow. This is where execution of the new Ibis strategy will be critical to the brand’s global success because this is where the Ibis brand is seeing the fastest growth.