Accor said that it would submit proposals to the French government next week and then to various governments to Europe, around the easing of lockdown measures.
The company announced a partnership with Bureau Veritas to develop a safety and cleanliness certification to allow businesses to reopen.
Accor said that it would, ultimately, create a guide to be made available to all stakeholders in the hospitality industry, enabling them to rigorously apply the health and safety recommendation of authorities, both in guest services spaces and in back office and catering spaces.
European customers will be able to check on a dedicated Bureau Veritas website, before they book their next stay whether any hotel or restaurant has been certified or not by Bureau Veritas.
The label will cover both accommodation and catering, and will set the sanitary standards applicable to all the group’s hotels as well as to other chains and independent hotels. The project was carried out in partnership with doctors and epidemiologists, and has been developed in collaboration with Accor owners and trade associations, such as UMIH, GNC, and GNI.
The project will be shared this week within Alliance France Tourisme as well as with the relevant ministries (French Ministries of Tourism, Health and Labour) so that they are actively involved in – and validate – the recommended standards. The group said that concrete proposals would be submitted, in France and subsequently in Europe, to the various governments, relevant ministries and committees for the easing of lockdown measures.
Franck Gervais, CEO Europe Accor, said: “Welcoming, protecting and taking care of others is the very DNA of Accor and at the heart of what we do. Today, more than ever, our employees, customers and partners need to be reassured of our ability to offering them the best welcome possible. As the European leader in hospitality, it is our duty to anticipate needs and respond to health and safety requirements by adhering to the highest standards. We are pleased to be pioneering this drive with Bureau Veritas and to extend it to all stakeholders.”
Mark Haywood, SVP, Europe, North Africa, & Brazil at RateGain Technologies, told us: ”Healthy hotels will definitely boom but we will see a collapse of many hotels who can't compete with them, who can't afford to pay for the new measures which will be needed. There will be consolidation and the new groups will be able to set themselves apart with health and safety ratings.”
Insight: Is this the moment when Accor wipes the floor with the competition? The sector has been looking to hopes of how to reopen and coming up against a wall of uninterested government, which views the sector as a petri dish and well, you know, not much of a source of tax and, at best a hotbed of minimum wage. Back of the queue, hotels.
Accor - which, you’ll recall, was at risk of being broken up prior to this outbreak - is now putting itself in a leadership position, working to set the standards which will convince governments hotels are safe - and convince guests too.
No-one knows what the pre-vaccine period will look like, but hotels which don’t have this certification will miss out. That much is clear. It is not a matter of who can afford to meet it - those who don’t will be left behind. So start that debate with those doing the bankrolling now.
It is Accor is setting the bar - and the good news is we’ll feel reassured that it’s safe to sit at it.