The Adagio London Stratford, one of the Accor group’s long-stay hotels.
Less frequent but longer stays: this is one of the expected developments
in post-Covid business travel. What many observers foresaw is actually happening. Hotel booking specialist HRS among others is seeing this, as long stays of 8 to 13 nights accounted for 39.2% of its business customer bookings in the first eight months of 2021, compared to just 7.9% of trips in 2019.
” The long-stay segment is an important new reality for buyers and suppliers as our industry picks up
,” said Tobias Ragge, CEO of HRS. In response to this trend, which could become a major trend in the future, HRS is adding a new “Long Stay” segment to its booking platform for trips of 8 days or more.
In addition to booking travellers, the sourcing of residential accommodation solutions, as well as negotiations with the various players and the loading of rates, have also been strengthened. Buyers, in particular, will benefit from a greater automation of the process, rather than the manual procedures often used in the long stay sector. In addition, through HRS’ Invisible Pay solution, virtual or centralized payment for long stay bookings will be facilitated.
In parallel with this launch, the hotel reservation specialist is focusing on another trend that is increasingly shaping business travel, namely the environment. In this context, HRS presented its Green Stay initiative last March, which combines the analysis of the environmental policy of establishments according to the methodologies validated by the United Nations and the Green House Protocol, and the feeding of this information into the reservation tools. This approach allows travel managers to create their hotel programs in line with their CSR objectives. ” Dozens of companies have already indicated in their hotel tenders that spending indicators on energy, water and waste management will be taken
into account,” emphasised Tobias Ragge.
The HRS initiative has resonated with Accor, the first global hotel group to join the programme. ” We are pleased to be working with HRS to help us drive sustainability improvements,” said Markus Keller, vice president of global sales and distribution for Accor, which also recently joined the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, an international organisation that brings together the world’s leading hospitality companies.
hotel groups committed to sustainable development. The participation of the French group’s establishments in the Green Stay initiative will enable them to highlight the initiatives they have implemented in the area of sustainable development, a promotion of eco-responsible hotels that will also be integrated into calls for tender.
I’m Michelle, and I love to travel. As a former hotel expert for one of the world’s largest hotel chains, I’ve stayed in nearly every type of room imaginable (including many that were not so desirable!). Nowadays, I am fortunate enough to be able to explore the world on my own terms. From international flights to learning different languages, there is nothing too far out of reach!
