AccorHotels: sustainability commitment, a guarantee for business performance

AccorHotels – Jul 21, 2015 10:31 SGT

• Three key findings:    -> Increased guest satisfaction

     -> Improved business performance

     -> Increased loyalty of key BtoB customers

  AccorHotels won first prize in the Trophée de la RSE (CSR Trophy) at the Grand Prix de l’AG 2015. On this occasion, the Group is sharing on its  PLANET 21 Research platform the findings of two surveys that assess the benefits of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives on its business performance: one was conducted by Accenture and the other was verified by EY.

  According to Cédric Vatier, managing director, Accenture Strategy: “AccorHotels’s decision to invest in sustainability programs has a positive impact on its carbon footprint but also contributes to the business performance of the company.”

  Key findings:

• Increased guest satisfaction: The survey conducted by Accenture in 2015 demonstrates a strong link between sustainable development initiatives and guest satisfaction. In fact, obtaining the ISO 14001 certification, the internationally recognized standard for environmental management, in addition to a higher achievement of the objectives set by the “Charter 21”, AccorHotels‘s internal sustainability management system, leads to greater guest satisfaction.

  

  Chart captions: ISO 14001 certification has a stronger, more positive correlation with satisfaction than the renovation date of the hotel. A hotel’s Charter 21 level even has a stronger link with satisfaction than the average room price.

  (Source: charts extracted from the Accenture survey conducted in May 2015, pages 14 and 18)

• Improved business performance:As well as having a positive impact on guest satisfaction, hotels with a higher Charter 21 level are also more profitable. The “Charter 21”, which relies on a system of levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) recommends 65 actions that hotels can implement to reduce their environmental footprint: the more a hotel invests in these actions, the more positive its paybacks are, both in terms of reducing costs (water, energy, waste) and increasing revenues (EBIT).

  The Accenture survey thus proves that the Group has a benefit in uniting its employees and partners behind objectives that meet sustainable development requirements while generating business value for the company.

  

  (Source: charts extracted from the Accenture survey conducted in May 2015, page 19)

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), an increasingly important criterion for AccorHotels’s key and strategic BtoB customers A growing number of BtoB customers consider CSR an additional criterion when selecting their supplier. In fact an internal survey verified by EY reveals that 70% of them communicate their CSR requirements during the RFP process, as well as during day-to-day business relationships. AccorHotels’s CSR commitments therefore give the group preferred partners status for its BtoB customers and enable it to generate additional turnover.

  AccorHotels Sustainable Development Director, Arnaud Herrmann, explains:

  “We have been committed to sustainable development for over 20 years and always believed that, as well as being essential to preserve our ecosystem, sustainability initiatives are also a competitive advantage for the company. That’s why we decided to collect additional empirical evidence to prove this. This positive impact on both hotel business performance and guest satisfaction is a great encouragement to continue our CSR policy, while our PLANET 21 program is nearing completion with promising results.”

  ->  Find on more on PLANET 21 Research

  Methodologies:

  • The BtoB survey dated May 2015 assesses the corporate social responsibility expectations of AccorHotels’ BtoB customers. 45 of the Group’s most important accounts, located on the five continents where the group is active, answered an online questionnaire between December 2014 and January 2015. The results confirmed the trends already identified in a survey conducted in 2012. These two surveys were both verified externally by EY.
  • The Accenture survey concerned a sample of over 1,200 hotels out of the more than 3,600 AccorHotels establishments. The survey excluded countries with fewer than 20 hotels. The survey provides a statistical analysis of the influence of several sustainable development indicators (certification year and level, etc.) on profitability and guest satisfaction.

  AccorHotels is a Group united by a shared passion for hospitality and driven by a shared promise to make everyone Feel Welcome. Over 180,000 women and men in 3,700 AccorHotels establishments look after thousands of guests every day in 92 countries. AccorHotels is the world’s leading hotel operator and offers its customers, partners and employees:

  – its dual expertise as a hotel operator and franchisor (HotelServices) and a hotel owner and investor (HotelInvest);

  – a large portfolio of internationally renowned brands covering the full spectrum, with luxury (Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, The Sebel), midscale (Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Mama Shelter, Adagio) economy (ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access and hotelF1) establishments;

  – a powerful marketplace and loyalty program Le Club AccorHotels

  – almost half a century of commitment to corporate citizenship and solidarity with the PLANET 21 program.

  Accor SA shares are listed on the Euronext Paris exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and traded in the USA on the OTC marketplace (Code: ACRFY)

  Follow news on Accor: Book a hotel:

  @accor | www.accor.com www.accorhotels.com