The global hospitality industry is experiencing a revival as it recovers from the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Leading this resurgence are major players like Accor, which has strategically aligned itself with the latest trends to meet evolving guest expectations and capitalise on emerging opportunities in the post-pandemic world. In a recent e-mail interview, Andrew Langdon, chief development officer, Asia at Accor, highlighted three significant trends reshaping the hospitality landscape: design and brand differentiation, the conversion of unbranded hotels to internationally branded properties, and the asset-light franchising model. These trends, along with major tourism-driving events, are fuelling the industry’s revival.
One of the most prominent trends in hospitality is the growing emphasis on design and brand differentiation. Travellers today expect more than just a functional space to stay; they seek experiences that reflect the identity of the brand and the local culture. This shift towards lifestyle-driven stays has prompted Accor to elevate the design elements in its Premium, Mid-scale and Economy (PM&E) hotel segments, creating distinctive experiences that resonate with guests.
Accor’s response to this trend can be seen in properties like Pullman Singapore Hill Street, Mercure Tokyo Hibiya, Tribe Phnom Penh Post Office Square, and ibis Styles Bangkok Silom. “These hotels combine vibrant social spaces, local culture, and cutting-edge design to create memorable experiences. Owners see the value in design-led spaces, which not only enhance guest satisfaction but also boost operational performance,” says Langdon.
Another significant post-pandemic trend is the surge in conversions from unbranded to internationally branded hotels. Hotel owners, particularly in Asia, are gravitating towards global brands for their ability to tap into international distribution networks and loyalty programmes.
This sentiment was echoed by Banyan Group’s executive chairman and co-founder Ho Kwon Ping, who noticed that several property owners in Phuket have approached Banyan Group to take over management of properties that have previously been managed by individual brands. He elaborates that the branding is its own marketing and brings in more guests. Banyan Group’s 12 hospitality brands are also part of Accor’s loyalty programme as part of a strategic partnership between the two.
“This flexibility allows owners to elevate their hotel, maximise profitability and have enhanced control over their property,” says Langdon.
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Lastly, the trend with hotel operators is going through the asset-light route. Accor is rolling out franchising as the preferred operating model, especially in the midscale and economy segments in Asia. “Our goal is to substantially grow the proportion of our franchise portfolio from the existing 20%, creating more opportunities for hotel owners to benefit from Accor’s global reach while maintaining operational autonomy,” says Langdon.
“This approach allows us to concentrate on managing, strengthening, and growing our brands. Our focus is on building both long-term partnerships with owners who align with our vision and operational expertise, and delivering memorable experiences at a given price point to our guests,” he adds.
Accor’s franchising strategy is designed to capitalise on the resurgence of middle-class travellers as demand for diverse accommodation options grows across Asia. To meet this increasing demand, Accor is focusing on expanding through a franchise model in the economy and midscale segments. The franchising model offers several advantages, including lower fees and operating costs, resulting in higher profit margins and faster development opportunities. Owners can also benefit from Accor’s expertise in operations, best practices, and access to optional cost-saving services such as procurement and IT.
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Meanwhile, Accor remains open to further expanding its portfolio of 47 brands. According to Langdon, adding more brands allows the company to diversify its offerings and stay competitive, ensuring it meets the broad spectrum of guest expectations, whether it is through global brands, local concepts or wellness-focused experiences.
Tourism trends
While the hospitality industry changes to suit today’s new travellers. Banyan Group’s Ho believes that the larger tourism trend is what is driving the change in the hospitality space.
Ho sees a current trend he dubs “rainbow tourism”, where tourism will consists of travel by people of many “colours”. “Not just white, but yellow, brown, pink and so on,” says Ho, who has coined this term some 20 years ago. This means that the world is seeing travellers from all over the world travelling to different parts. People today have the urge to travel outside of their own home countries.
When he first started in this industry some 30 years ago, he noticed that tourism was dominated by a single colour — the Caucasians and Europeans — travelling to Asia. “I had said 20 years ago that we would begin to see a different kind of colour in tourism, rainbow tourism. I predicted this but unfortunately it’s happening a bit too early and it’s happening now,” says Ho.
This demographic change is thanks to the technological advancements today, which Ho believes that if this did not happen, the “explosion” in travel that is happening now would not happen. Instead, he thinks this will happen in the next 15 to 20 years, with more travellers coming from previously developing countries.
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Technology has also helped the tourism industry keep up with today’s trends. At the Milken Asia Summit 2024, Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com, says: “More than 70% of our customers are born after the 1980s. In China, we pretty much use artificial intelligence (AI) to handle all incoming calls. We found that 90% of our transactions are also done through the mobile app.”
Sun, who was speaking at a fireside chat titled The Future of Global Connectivity: Bridging Industries for a Seamless World, which Ho was also present in, sees this high mobile usage as a new trend in travellers, leading the way for new technology and shedding light on the importance of AI in the tourism and hospitality industry.
However, Sun notes that while have online presence is important, booking a destination holiday or a business travel is not like e-commerce. Travel needs very high quality of services. Hence, there is a need to balance the tech and human aspect of customer service. This too applies within the hospitality space, which is traditionally a very human service oriented one.
During the fireside chat, Ho says: “For the hotel industry, AI is certainly not going to replace people, but it will make revenue management far more dynamic and forward looking than ever before.” Ho acknowledges that AI is indeed advancing, enabling a more sophisticated revenue management, which in turn will help bottom lines tremendously.
