Literature review

According to Dichter (1996), word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools used
by advertisers to market their brand. And social media, due to its inherent functionality,
provides a great platform for consumer testimonials. The success of a message depends
on the genuineness of the comment as perceived by the reader. If readers are convinced
that the testimonial is by a real consumer- someone who has not been endorsed by the
company for promotion, then they build a higher confidence in the brand and are more
likely to form a stronger bond. The rise in the use of Internet as a medium for marketing
has given birth to applications such as viral marketing whereby marketers reach out to
buyers using peer-to-peer communication. P-2-P is similar to word-of-mouth however
since it uses internet, information is propagated exponentially that reaches large numbers
of buyers in a very short span of time, and hence is a preferred cost saving strategy used
by marketers (Beverland, 2005).
Since content 13 sharing provides benefits to both the message senders and receivers,
buyers encourage their friends to engage in the sharing process as well, thereby
multiplying the total number of participants. According to Wilker (2007) 83% of
travellers used the internet to research or book their travel in the past one year, out of
which about 77% had referred to consumer reviews to arrive at their final decision. Thus
social media serves as a powerful tool to spread word-ofmouth as a viral communication.
Given the increase in customer expectations, the globalisation of services, incremental
speed in technological innovations and rapidly changing customer needs, service
providers in general, and tourism and hospitality firms in particular, find themselves in a
progressively competitive market environment (Buhalis, 2006).

Against this background, developing, designing and delivering high quality services
that meet increasingly dynamic expectations of consumers has been identified as a
success-promising response to the outlined challenges (Alam and Perry, 2002).
During the past four decades scholars from different backgrounds have contributed to
the growing body of new service development and design research. This usually focuses
on production intensive, supplier oriented service sectors, such as banking, insurances,
telecommunications and logistics (Johnson et al., 2000; Johne and Storey, 1998).
Contributions from consumer dominated high-contact service sectors such as tourism,
hospitality and retailing however, are rather scarce (Ottenbacher, 2007).

There is common agreement in the literature that developing and designing new services is
a complex and long lasting process. There is a rich body of research that investigates the
determinants of success for new service development (see Johne and Storey, 1998). In this
regard he service development process has been identified as one of the critical success
factors (Johnson et al., 2000; de Brentani, 1991). While it has been proved that deploying
formalised strategies to guide the development process increase the success rate
significantly (de Brentani, 1995; de Bretani, 2001; Ottenbacher et al., 2006), it is also
reported widely in the literature that these formal structures are often linear and static in
nature (Vermeulen and Dankbaar, 2002).

This in turn leads to slow competitive speed of the development process, decreased
adaptation capabilities and increased cost (de Jong and Vermeulen, 2003). Incorporating
customers at all stages in the development process was found to be pivotal for ensuring
the customer need-fit of the service offering (Alam and Perry, 2002).
Moreover, technological competence and creating technological advantages has been
identified as a crucial ingredient for creating competitive advantage through service
innovation (Bitner et al., 2000; Jonas et al., 2006) Identifying success factors of new
service development however only reveals what should be done, not how it should
be done. Holistic research in to the specific stages of the new service development
process however is relatively sparse. Seminal contributions in the field, that dates back to
the late 1970s, have focussed on translating findings from goods- 3 manufacturing
backgrounds into the service industry sector (Scheuning and Johnson, 1989; Shostack,
1984; Tax and Stuart, 1997). Even though these models provided a descriptive view of
the development process, they fail to address the peculiarities of service industries.
Subsequently developed, service specific models, identified and addressed a variety of
service specific characteristics of the innovation process, such as the interdepartmental
involvement, the organisational characteristics, the role of customers and the intangible
nature of service offerings (Stevens and Dimitriadis, 2005; Baker and Hart, 1999;
Johnson et al., 2000; Alam, 2006; Alam and Perry, 2002). However regarding the role of
technology in the service development processes, to date an internal focus has been
applied. This is internal systems such as management information systems, customer
relationship management systems or process management systems have been accounted
for in the literature (Bitner et al., 2000; Jonas et al., 2006). The external focus of
technology (the social sphere, extranets, online platforms) is ignored widely. In particular
real-time enabled social-media offers opportnities for the development of services, as it
allows companies to retrieve background information about consumers, engage in instant
conversation, retrieve real-time consumer feedback and link conversations and feedback
to specific geo-locations. As this information is available in real-time and free from
geographical constraints, social media acts as a catalyst of change for service

development. Therefore the present study is set out to develop an understanding how
social media enabled real-time technology enables the speed and adaptability of the
service development process in tourism and hospitality.
According to Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study 2010, majority
of global companies adopt a minimum of one source related to social media platform. To
a certain extent, 79% of the top 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are
found to be applying at least one social media platforms (as shown in Figure 1): Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube or Corporate Blogs (Burson-Marsteller, 2010). 11 Figure 1. Global
companies using at least one social media platform. Adapted from BursonMarsteller
Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study, 2010. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and
Corporate Blogs Burson-Marsteller (2010) compiled a report and state that there are
some international companies that acknowledge the value of engaging in social media.
Within the cluster of social media platforms, Twitter is the preferred media tool among
Fortune Global 100 companies, with two-thirds (65%) having a presence on the social
network. With at least onehalf are reaching audience through Facebook (54%) and
YouTube (50%). Onethird maintains corporate blogs. Some of the very same
organizations also see the value in the frequency and sustained engagement. The vast
majority with active Twitter accounts (82%) have tweeted in the past week and at a high
volume of an average of twenty-seven tweets each (as shown in Figure 2). Fifty-nine
percent have posted on their Facebook fan pages, sixty-eight posted YouTube videos and
thirty-six updated their blogsite (Burson-Marsteller, 2010).

Case study: Findings

Social media, defined by its interactive nature and user-generated content, has largely been
a tool and a toy for the wealthy and bored. Blogs, photo sharing sites, and online social
networking sites have allowed peers (and increasingly organizations and companies) to
share thoughts, messages, information, images, and videos.

A powerful reservation system

Accor Hotels reservation system, known as TARS, is a highly efficient distribution
platform that meets all the needs of your hotel from online reservations and payment to
sales optimization and management.
KEY FIGURES 2014

59% of TARS contribution rate to total hotel revenue on average, up by

3.7 points over the previous year
38 million reservations

79 million room nights generated

1 reservation every second

STIMULATE THEIR DIRECT SALES BECAUSE OF ACCOR

HOTELS DIRECT CHANNELS
A stronger online presence
Accor Hotels guarantees you a stronger e-commerce
presence, with:

accorhotels.com, a multi-brand portal unique

in the sector: 32 geolocalized versions, 18 languages,

11.5 million Visitors per month, equal to 50% of direct
Web traffic

the 13 commercial websites of our hotel brands:

sofitel.com, novotel.com, ibis hotel, com, etc., representing

11.5 million Visits in 2014

No.

hotel group in terms of traffic

(source ComScore, except USA)

18%

in direct sales, via AccorHotels websites

280

million visits to AccorHotels websites

A growing mobile presence

As for its e-commerce strategy, AccorHotels offers you a unique mobile presence,
with:
mobile sites for each of its brands
an exclusive, multi-brand, one-stop application for accorhotels.com
Available for iPhone, smartphones, Android and
tablets, these applications allow customers to
consult room availabilities in real time, access
negotiated rates, make reservations, and more. A
host of services heighten the guest experience at
the hotel, making the accorhotels.com application
a real travel companion, one that will soon
be indispensable.

30%
of AccorHotels web visits are
from mobile devices

+127%

rooms booked via the

accorhotels.com and brand mobile apps

million app downloads

Call centres and integrated after-sales service

Our A3C (ACCOR CUSTOMERS CONTACT CENTRES)

call centres not only take care of your telephone
bookings via AccorHotels central reservations

but they also manage your customer relationship:

emails, postal mail, social networks, etc. as well as
any claims.

11
call centres around the world

900

Reservation and Customer Care agents

6.4

million customer contacts

handled in 18 languages

The Overflow call service to optimize management of your

bookings
The AccorHotels call centre agents are an extension of your hotels reservation
service.
A call to your hotel unanswered after the 4 th ring automatically switches to our
team who takes the call in your name and make bookings for your hotel.
You are only billed for the service if the customer stays at your hotel.

OPTIMIZE YOUR INDIRECT SALES

BY CONNECTING TO THE MOST POWERFUL
PARTNERS AT THE BEST CONDITIONS
A privileged partnership with the major online travel agencies
AccorHotels has strategic international agreements and negotiated commis-sions with
the leading online travel agencies: booking.com, Expedia, HRS, etc.

Increased presence on price-comparison websites

The AccorHotels distribution system connects your hotel to metasearch en-gines like
TripAdvisor, Kayak, or Google, which compare several hotels to facil-itate customer
choice.

Reservations made easier on the Global Distribution Systems (GDS)

AccorHotels works with more than 20,000 travel agency partners which book rooms via
the GDS.

For development practitioners, social media and development is now entering a new and exciting
phase. As internet connectivity spreads, and cell phone usage spreads even further, there are
millions of new potential content creators gaining access to social media each year. More social
media content aimed at development purposes can, and should, be created by the targets of
development themselves. The benefits of this shift towards local media creation are clear. Social
media enhances the ability of poor populations to voice their own concerns and priorities, and
publicize their own vision and purpose. Self-advocacy is a form of empowerment not always
delivered through traditional development projects.

Discussions of findings

Arabian Travel Market Dubai United Arab Emirates

(Leisure)
IMEX Frankfurt Germany

TARGET BUSINESSES AND

INTERMEDIARIES THANKS
TO FOUR DEDICATED
WEBSITES

IMEX America Las Vegas USA (MICE)

World Travel Market London United Kingdom (Leisure)

IBTM Barcelona Spain (Leisure & MICE)

4 accorhotels.com websites
for business users to book
hotels at preferential
conditions:
Business,
for corporate travel
Meetings,
for meetings and seminars
Travel
Agencies, for travel agencies
Tourism, for
tourist industry professionals

MAKE THE MOST OF MAJOR

INTERNATIONAL TRADE
FAIRS TO PROMOTE YOUR
HOTEL
AccorHotels
spotlights all Group
hotels at the
biggest
international trade
shows:
ITB Berlin Germany
(Leisure)

ILTM Cannes France (Luxury)

GAIN AND RETAIN YOUR

GUESTS LOYALTY
WITH THE ACCOR
HOTEL LOYALTY
PROGRAMME, LE
CLUB
ACCORHOTELS
A simple and attractive
programme
Le Club Accorhotels is AccorHotels
free loyalty programme which lets
mem-bers earn points for every
expenditure at one of the 2,700
participating Ac-corHotels hotels.
Members can convert these points into
reductions on future stays or into air
miles with a partner airline company.

Strong points where we match

the competition
Multibrand & worldwide
programme
Advantages similar to those
offered in our major competitors
programmes Option of converting
points into air miles
Booking with points directly online
Points do not expire as long as
the member stays at least once a
year at a participating hotel
Top members earn more point

Strong points where we beat

the competition
A worldwide offer of 2,800
properties, from economy to luxury
Full flexibility on using
points to book: no restrictions,
no blackout dates
Programme 100% online
Customer service in 10 languages
The most international loyalty
programme

Le Club Accorhotels members

vs. non-members
Return visit to AccorHotels hotels year on year
Spending during the stay
Average number of stays per year

Active
members
by zone of
residence

Rest of Europe

20%

Asia

18%

France

12%

UK & Ireland

12%

South America

12%

Pacific

8%

Germany

7%

North America

6%

Middle East

3%

Africa

2%

KEY FIGURES 2014

OPTIMIZE YOUR CUSTOMER RELATIONS WITH A

POWERFUL CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
A global centralized customer database
For many years, AccorHotels has benefited from a powerful CRM enabling it to
optimize, process and analyse customer data.
This valuable tool helps the Group to improve its commercial discourse, target
its initiatives, and strengthen customer loyalty.
Whatever the source of information (e.g. Internet sites, mobile devices, call
cen-tres, hotel PMS, GDS), customer data is shared among all the Groups
hotels of all the brands, and in all their countries:
Identity: name, age, gender, contact details
Loyalty and subscription cards
Booking history, bookings in process or to come
Expenditures during the entire stay
Preferences at hotel (floor, type of bed, newspapers, etc.) and personal
tastes (sports, gourmet dining, etc.)
Level of satisfaction and claims or complaints
Your hotel can consult the guest file once it is equipped with an Opera or FOLS
PMS.

45 millions
individual customers in
the B2C customer
database

800,000
corporate accounts & travel
agencies in the B2B customer
database

x2
One personalized message means
twice the spending

Africa

Benefits for your hotel

Offer your guests the most personalized welcome possible to satisfy them
and win their loyalty
Have specific information on your guests, their preferences, their
habits Personalize emails and propose tailor-made offers
Augment the customer value in your hotel and boost sales

AccorHotels customers by country of residence

France

22%

Rest of Europe

20%

United Kingdom

12%

Asia

11%

South America

10%

Germany

9%

Pacific

7%

North America

5%

Middle East

2%

BOOS
T
YOUR
REVEN
UE
WITH
POWE
RFUL
MARK
ETING
INITIAT
IVES*
Wide-reaching
marketing actions
Digital is changing the
customer-brand relationship,
making awareness and
image more important than
ever. To accompany you and

2%

help fill your hotel all year long, particularly during slow periods, the Group
implements powerful marketing actions both monobrand and multibrand
developed at an inter-national, national or local level.

High impact multimedia ad campaigns (TV, radio, press,

posters, digital)
For brands and hotels to raise their awareness, strengthen their image, and stand
out from their competition, AccorHotels develops communication cam-paigns and
media plans utilizing the most relevant formats and materials, from the most
traditional to digital and social media.

Optimized online referencing campaigns

For customers and prospects to easily spot our brands and your hotel on the
Internet, it is essential to maximize their visibility on search engines. Accor-Hotels
invests heavily to guarantee you a top-of-the-first-page position while optimizing
the cost per click.

Targeted emailing campaigns

In its powerful database of 45 million contacts, including 18 million Le Club
Accorhotels members, AccorHotels centralizes a variety of information on its
customers, from a basic profile to personal preferences, travel habits and more.
Based on this information, the Group launches targeted campaigns via e-mailings,
text messages, or notifications on the single accorhotels.com app to address the
right message to the right customer at the right time and boost your revenue.

Strategic promotional offers

To generate bookings for your hotel during slow periods, the brands and the
accorhotels.com portal run promotional offers backed by global media plans
several times a year. Travellers benefit from extremely attractive prices at participating hotels.

Strategy

MANA
GE
YOUR
DISTRI
BUTIO
N
SIMPL
Y AND
EASILY
WITH
TARS,
OUR
MULTICHANN
EL
DIGITA
L
PLATF
ORM
FOR
SALES
AND
RELAT
ED
SERVI
CES
The benefits of our
distribution platform

Very active presence on social networks

To bring its hotels and brands closer to web users, AccorHotels maintains a very
active presence on social media and regularly launches major operations with the
main players, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and You-Tube.
Local dedicated teams manage and monitor the activity in these commu-nities to
better meet your hotels needs and reflect cultural specificities.

Controlling your online reputation

Internet and social networks heighten the impact of peoples opinions on your
hotel and services. Online comments can generate or deter additional reservations and revenue. AccorHotels gives you the ability to positively influence
your hotels online reputation and image by making available TrustYou, the ho-tel
industrys premier e-reputation management tool.

Complete photo and video guidelines

Digital relies heavily on images and people are extremely influenced by what they
see. It is crucial to have the most beautiful visuals possible to sell your ho-tel,
through both print and digital media. AccorHotels has signed global agree-ments
guaranteeing very preferential conditions with photo and video profes-sionals who
can provide their services anywhere in the world and comply with very detailed
specifications

M
u
l
t
i
c
u
r
r
e
n
c
y
a
n
d
m
u
l
t
i

lingual central booking system Realtime updates of room rates and availability
Direct access to all industry
distribution channels Effective
management of distribution channels
Controlled and coherent rates
policy

KEY FIGURES 2014

1,600
hotels equipped with RM solutions

IMPROVE YOUR HOTELS PERFORMANCE

THANKS TO ACCORHOTELS RMD (REVENUE
MANAGEMENT ON DEMAND) EXPERTISE

700

A highly effective solution to optimize your revenue

+8%

To optimize your occupancy rate and average room price and to boost your hotels
revenue, AccorHotels has developed real expertise in revenue manage-ment. Our
Revenue on Demand (RMD) solutions help you analyse and antici-pate market
trends and customer demand and transform opportunities into real bookings. By
combining our technical solutions, our training programmes, and the expertise of
our teams, you benefit from a real return on your investment.

expert Revenue Managers

experts around the world

in REVPAR performance on
average for hotels using RMD

Service on demand, adaptable to your budget

Having a dedicated Revenue Manager in your hotel is not always possible, for financial reasons or simply because such
persons are rare.
Today, there are 10,000 RMs in the world and 300,000 hotels! With its Revenue Management on Demand, AccorHotels
offers you the possibility of sharing the costs of an expert RM who will help you optimize your hotels revenue.

5 Revenue Management plans to accompany your hotel

With 5 different plans and numerous options, you are sure to find the Revenue Management solution that fits your
needs.
RMD Discovery: an introduction to Revenue Management module and a self-diagnostic to see what your
current situation is.
RMD Solutions: a complete system of Revenue Management solu-tions at competitive rates:
RM solutions adapted to hotel needs: EzRMS, ARMS, ibis SMART pricing
RM solutions on market trends: STR, MKG, RateGain, Travelclick, Nor1

RMD Training: a Revenue Manager training and recruitment service

RMD Consulting: Revenue Management consulting missions tailored to your hotel
RMD Operating: Revenue Management daily services to optimize your hotels revenue

PROFIT FROM ACCORHOTELS AMBITIOUS DIGITAL

STRATEGY: A 220 MILLION EURO PLAN
FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS
An investment in the future to serve our common interests
Because our primary source of revenue today, and for the foreseeable future, is digital, it is
our top priority. We are rolling out a 220-million euro, 4-year plan to develop 8 programmes to
enhance the digital experience of our customers, partners and employees.

Some projects currently being deployed

An online reservation function for meetings and seminars
A personalized partner portal
Dashboards to track your hotels performance
And many other projects among our 8 programmes

CHOOSE THE BEST IPMS TO ACCESS ALL THE

ACCORHOTELS DISTRIBUTION SOLUTIONS
The three indispensable items you need to benefit
from the AccorHotels distribution solutions
An AccorHotels-approved iPMS, choice between OPERA or
FOLS AccorHotels-approved software and IT equipment
Connection to Accortel

Benefits of a referenced iPMS for your hotel

Interface with more than 100 distribution channels: Internet sites, online
travel agencies, GDS, etc.
Reduce time spent on administrative management tasks: your teams can
save up to 3 hours a day
Reliable data and fully secure information processing
The guarantee of being able to benefit from all AccorHotels services and
appli-cations

COMPREHENSIVE IPMS FOR ADVANCED FUNCTIONALITIES

Hotel needs
Meeting room management
Guest advanced preference management
Advanced group management
Room allotment management
Specific and varied Interfaces
Upselling

Sofitel MGallery Pullman

Novotel Mercure

iPMS ADAPTED TO DAILY FUNCTIONALITIES

Hotel needs
Individual bookings mainly
Limited meeting room management
Basic guest preferences
Limited number of interfaces
Simple group and room
allotments management

OPERA
*

OPERA
* OR
FOLS

Novotel Mercure

EFFECTIVE AND INTUITIVE iPMS FOR ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONALITIES

Hotel needs
Individual bookings mainly
Simple group and room assignment
management

FOLS
Novotel Mercure Adagio ibis
ibis Styles ibis budget HotelF1

* Opera is a third-party product sold and installed by Oracle and recommended by Accor.

May 2015

May 2015