Worldwide: French multinational hospitality company Accor has announced the launch of its “Apartments & Villas” website, acting as an extension for its private rental and extended stay hotel portfolios rather than a traditional entrance into the short-term rental space.
Apartment & Villas will market private residences listed on Accor’s prime rental business Onefinestay, which AccorHotels acquired for $170 million in 2016, as well as extended stay hotels across its brands such as Adagio, Mantra and Hyde Living.
The platform will operate in a similar fashion to Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts’ Private Retreats brand, but unlike Marriott Homes & Villas [which launched in 2019], a large portion of the program will market privately owned residences within an existing Accor-branded property.
Commenting on the launch, Jeff Tisdall, senior vice president development, residential and extended stay at Accor, said: “The launch of the Apartments & Villas website demonstrates our ambition to develop offers and solutions tailored to the extended stay hotel segment. The launch of apartmentsandvillas.accor.com is an important milestone for our investment partners, guests and private residence owners, and further reinforces Accor’s leadership position in extended stay hotel and branded residence segments”.
Yassine Hachem, vice president of guest digital product at Accor, said: “[Apartments & Villas] reflects our ongoing commitment to innovation as consumer travel needs evolve … as well as to live an exceptional travel experience: the space, comfort and privacy of a home for a weekend, a vacation or working in a new setting, allied to the convenience of hotel services from Accor brands and to the best of loyalty advantages.”
Any homeowners in Accor-branded residences will be able to list their property and have it distributed on Apartments & Villas, while adhering to exacting brand standards and the now standard enhanced cleaning protocols to ensure guest safety.
Riyan Itani, head of Savills International Development Consultancy, said in a statement: “We see increasing demand for residentially designed short-term rental accommodations, as consumers seek out accommodations which enable more privacy and self-sufficiency and include features like extra living space and generous outdoor space.”
Accor’s doubling down on the private rental and extended stay segments is a clear nod to the shifts in consumer behaviour during the pandemic, as guests continue to show a preference for privacy and seclusion as well as flexible-term stays for working from anywhere or self-isolation purposes.
This has been accelerated in the past couple of weeks as Accor announced a merger with the Hoxton hotel chain owner Ennismore in a bid to create “the world’s largest operator of lifestyle hotels”. The new entity will operate as an umbrella company under the Ennismore name comprising Accor’s ten lifestyle brands.
