07/19/2011  ACCOR LAUNCHES RESEARCH ON SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

    Accor Hotels has launched Earth Guest Research, a platform for sharing knowledge on social and environmental issues relating to the hotel industry. The goal of sharing the research is to help advance the tourism industries efforts in this area by making sustainable development surveys and methodologies available to all industry operators, as well as to the general public.



    To identify effective improvement drivers and enhance support from guests, Accor initiated the survey by finding out exactly what their concerns and expectations are with regard to sustainable development. As a result, the first Earth Guest Research publication is dedicated to this topic.



    With 4,200 hotels worldwide and our pioneering experience in sustainable development, our role is to drive change and lead the tourism industry in this field," says Accor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Denis Hennequin.I strongly believe that sharing our knowledge will enable us to advance, and that we need to leverage sustainable development concerns to develop new, more sustainable products and services that will eventually lead to a whole new approach to the hotel experience.After taking into account the lessons learned from its hotel guest tracking study and environmental footprint assessment, Accor will unveil its new sustainable development strategy in the fall.



    Methodology. The survey of hotel guests sustainable development-related expectations was carried out by French market research institute IFOP in six countries Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom from August 9-30, 2010. Representative of hotel users in each country, the sample groups comprised nearly 7,000 respondents who had spent at least one night in a hotel in the previous 12 months, including a cross-section of hotel types (chain, independent, etc.) and segments (budget, economy, midscale, upscale and luxury).The strategy also calls for extending the tracking study to other countries and renew it on a regular basis to identify any changes in consumer expectations.



    The survey is available from the www.accor.com website, where all Earth Guest Research publications will be posted. The survey methodology is also available to industry operators provided that they agree to freely share their own survey results.



    Key Findings. A typical profile has emerged. Young, male business guests who use economy hotels seem to be the most concerned about sustainable development.A global consensus on water, energy and waste. One slight difference: Brazilian guests are particularly concerned about local development and Chinese guests about health and well-being.NGOs and international organizations rank last on the responsibility scale. One in three guests believes that sustainable development is first and foremost the responsibility of individual citizens.A constraint turned into a desirable experience. Seven out of ten guests said they would select a responsible hotel even if it was less well-situated and slightly more expensive.



    Earth Guest Researchs first hotel guest survey. Contrary to popular belief, sustainable development seems to be of more concern to men 82 percent than to women 72 percent. This finding is closely related to another, as business customers the majority of whom are still men were found to be more concerned about the topic than leisure customers. The understanding of the concept also varies by hotel segment. Economy hotel guests seem more sensitive to sustainable development issues. However, this may be due to the lower average age of budget hotel users, who are generally quite young.



    Nearly eight out of ten respondents claimed to know and understand the concept of sustainable development, which is seen as a day-to-day reality regardless of cultural and socio-economic differences, the purpose of the stay and the type of hotel selected. It must, however, be noted that it is politically incorrect in today's society to say that you are insensitive to this issue.



    A global consensus on water, energy and waste. In response to an open-ended question, optimizing water and energy resources and reducing waste were by far the main concerns worldwide. In response to a closed-ended question, guests identified the fight against child sex tourism as a key priority for the hotel industry. This indicates that guests are particularly attentive to negative externalities related to a hotels direct activity.



    When asked about their sustainable development-related expectations, Chinese hotel guests ranked health and well-being high on their list, while Brazilian guests seem more concerned with fostering local economic development, a major issue in a country that is trying hard to reduce inequality.