End-to-end solution supports hospitality, real estate partners in optimizing synergies and delivering VIP design, service experiences.
PARIS -- French hospitality giant Accor is making a play for an even bigger slice of the multi-use development and branded living community sectors with an industry-first services platform designed to give its investment partners turnkey support from development to sales, marketing and operations.
Accor One Living is banking on leveraging its parent company’s expertise as the second largest global player in the branded residences category to address owners’ needs for maximizing the performance potential of these complex assets at every phase of their lifecycle.
What’s on offer
The hospitality company’s highly diversified business base will be a key differentiator, said Jeff Tisdall, chief business officer, Accor One Living. “We have cross-functional specialists who understand the intricacies of these very distinct business models and can view mixed-use developments through the lens of both the hotel and branded residence components.”
Walking through the new offer, Tisdall explained that Accor One Living engages in the initial planning and product design phase, helping to customize the service offering, benefits, and physical design around the needs of the target market. This engagement continues through the sales and marketing phase, with an emphasis on approaches that, said Tisdall, “bring the brands to life.”
Two dedicated websites dovetail with this effort: one that enables prospective homeowners to virtually visit Accor’s worldwide branded residences portfolio and a second that provides a rental marketing tool. Finally, the role of Accor One Living extends through pre-opening and into the operating phase of these projects.
“This turnkey approach is immensely valuable for our development partners. For the branded communities we manage, it means knowing the same team which supported the initial planning, continues into the operating phase, ensuring the original vision is realized,” Tisdall said.
We expect to open more than 125 new branded residence communities over the next several years.
Jeff Tisdall
Fast-track expansion plans
The impetus for this launch, announced earlier this year, came from the challenges project hospitality and real estate investors and developers face in maximizing the full menu of synergies and efficiencies integrated into the physical plants and shared services of these multi-faceted developments. Accor has already been through that learning curve as it grew its presence in the sector to what is currently more than 135 branded residences projects operating or in development across 22 of its brands. Lessons learned showed there can be substantial money left on the table.
“The opportunity we see is to extend the same shared services model – in which branded residence and hotel components have traditionally shared certain amenities, facilities, infrastructure, and labor – to new product categories,” Tisdall added. “Private clubs and coworking concepts can be highly complementary to hotels, serving as demand drivers, adding scale, and allowing overheads to be shared.”
At the same time, Tisdall said the potential of Accor brands and service offerings to enhance appeal is by no means limited to residential offerings. “Private clubs and coworking are two great examples, but the potential we see is far reaching. Integrating mixed-use services under Accor One Living allows us to work alongside our partners, applying a holistic approach that captures efficiencies between multiple products in a mixed-use development. Ultimately this leads to better investment outcomes and a richer guest experience,” he added.
Accor is hoping this new initiative will make a greater contribution to its own bottom line. Already “an important value driver” for the company, according to Tisdall, this segment has significant growth potential going forward. It may also provide a diversified approach to navigating the current economic headwinds.
“While the macro environment presents some uncertainty, we see continued strong demand for compelling residential branding, innovative services, and enhanced owner benefits. In 2023, Accor One Living will support the opening of several flagship projects, including the much-anticipated OWO Residences by Raffles in London, Raffles Residences Boston Back Bay, and SO/Uptown Residences Dubai,” he said, adding that Accor expects to open more than 125 new branded residence communities over the next several years.
Another aim is casting a wider net for partner solutions. “Accor One Living extends our commitment to branded residence developers, and the branded communities we serve, by reinforcing our ability to deliver turnkey solutions that extend across every phase in the lifecycle of a project. The platform also better positions us to support standalone and franchised branded residences,” Tisdall said. “Above all, Accor One Living will play a key role in driving the innovation of service offerings, owner benefits programs and branding solutions – all of which help us address a wider set of investment partner needs and interests. Like our core business, Accor One Living is asset light. We will focus where we are best able to create value – though branding, by partnering in the creation of the innovative, differentiated mixed-use products, and in the management and franchising of residential communities.”