Latest news with #KerryHealy
Travel Daily News
23-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Commercial strategy in hospitality: Kerry Healy on brand differentiation and AI-powered personalization at Accor
Kerry Healy discusses Accor's commercial strategy in hospitality, emphasizing brand clarity, AI-driven personalization, loyalty ecosystems, and sustainable brand advocacy during Arabian Travel Market 2025 in Dubai. Commercial strategy in hospitality is evolving rapidly, and Accor is at the forefront of this transformation across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. During Arabian Travel Market 2025 in Dubai, Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer for Accor's Premium, Midscale & Economy brands, provided deep insights into how the group defines and delivers value through brand differentiation, consumer-centric campaigns, and AI-enhanced performance. According to Healy, the cornerstone of a successful commercial strategy lies in ensuring each brand has a unique identity. With flagship brands like ibis, Novotel, and Pullman, Accor has relied on extensive consumer data from partners such as Travel Safari to tailor each brand's value proposition to customer expectations. This data-driven approach helps distinguish similar-tier brands like Mövenpick and Swissôtel, ensuring relevance for modern travellers whose preferences continue to shift. What truly strengthens Accor's commercial strategy in hospitality is its ecosystem model, built around the ALL loyalty program and the platform. This structure provides a safety net that enhances each brand's equity through targeted campaigns, dynamic search marketing, and post-stay engagement. Whether guests are booking based on convenience, family needs, or premium experiences, the commercial team's strategy ensures seamless transitions across brand tiers, driven by purpose-of-travel insights. Healy also emphasized the shift toward experience-led and value-led travel, especially among Gen Z and millennial segments. From branded room experiences with PSG football legends to curated local cultural offerings, Accor aims to extend brand value beyond the hotel stay. Partnerships with organizations like WWF further align the brand narrative with sustainability and advocacy, supporting eco-certifications and reducing environmental impact—criteria now embedded in most B2B RFPs. Technology and AI are integral to executing this sophisticated strategy. Healy revealed how machine learning is powering revenue optimization platforms like IDeaS, now deployed across Accor's global network. AI also supports CRM and campaign personalization using tools like Movable Ink, which tailors communication by channel, tone, and stage of the customer journey. The result is hyper-personalized messaging that drives higher engagement and conversion. Additionally, internal AI tools streamline business intelligence, enabling hotel teams to interpret performance metrics in real-time. While AI enhances automation, Healy underscores that human oversight remains critical for execution and strategic adaptation. Looking ahead, Healy advocates for greater system interoperability to reduce the complexity of integrating legacy and emerging tech platforms. She also anticipates expanded use of secure AI environments, such as private GPT applications, to maintain data privacy while enhancing productivity. Accor's commercial strategy in hospitality demonstrates how data, AI, brand clarity, and sustainable partnerships can coalesce into a high-impact, scalable model. With Healy's leadership, Accor continues to set benchmarks for adaptive, tech-enabled brand management in the global hotel industry.
Mid East Info
13-05-2025
- Business
- Mid East Info
Hub71 Startup Atiom Launches New Report Revealing What GCC Travelers Value Most in 2025 Hotel Stays - Middle East Business News and Information
New hospitality service index analyzing over 20,000 verified online reviews across the GCC has revealed a shift in what guests value most post-pandemic, with staff friendliness, service quality, and personalization playing determining factors in guest satisfaction. Abu Dhabi, UAE, May 2025 – The Hotel Service Index: 2025 GCC Edition, released by AI-driven behavioral platform Atiom, a Hub71 startup, spotlights the region's highest-rated hotels and uncovers emerging patterns in guest expectations. The data shows that the highest-scoring hotels such as Vida Emirates Hills and Crowne Plaza Riyadh outperform competitors not just through luxury, but through repeatable service excellence, guest recognition, and personal touches. This latest edition of the Hotel Service Index found: Guest service beats reputation: Luxury hotels and legacy brand names in hospitality do not top every ranking. Instead, hotels where guest reviews called out great service rose to the top – even at lower tier hotels. Individual staff members make all the difference: In the instance of one top ranking hotel, a member of the hotel's staff was mentioned by name 14 times in sampled reviews, demonstrating just how crucial your people are to your property's success. Personal touches drive more reviews: Service excellence creates a positive experience, but personalization inspires guests to leave a review. Where guests felt personally attended to, positive reviews followed. 'The hospitality industry in the GCC and wider MENA region is undergoing a major transformation, presenting a huge opportunity for hoteliers,' says Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer for Middle East, Africa, Turkey, and Asia-Pacific (Premium, Midscale, and Economy Brands), 'With rising demand and rapidly evolving guest expectations, today's travelers are seeking highly personalized experiences tailored to their unique needs. In an increasingly competitive landscape, it's more important than ever for hotel leaders to ensure their teams are delivering consistently high service standards and deeply understand what guests expect in each market.' This edition of the Hotel Service Index is the first that Atiom has created especially for the Middle East and North Africa region, and focuses on GCC countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain). The top 10 hotels in the United Arab Emirates as revealed by Atiom's Hotel Service Index: 2025 GCC Edition are: Vida Emirates Hills Conrad Dubai Radisson Blue Hotel, Ajman Al Khoury Courtyard Hotel Vida Dubai Marina & Yacht Club Rove Trade Centre Ramada by Wyndham Downtown Dubai Kempinski The Boulevard Dubai Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa The WB Abu Dhabi, Curio Collection by Hilton The report offers analysis of the hospitality industry's rapid growth in the region, what makes today's travelers take the initiative to leave positive reviews, and what hospitality leaders in the region can do to drive loyalty now and prepare for ever-increasing guest expectations and traveler volumes. It also offers market-specific analysis with each region's ranking to provide the actionable insights hoteliers need to move up in the rankings. Commenting on the launch of the Hotel Service Index: 2025 GCC Edition, Matthew Spriegel, CEO of Atiom, said: 'It's never been timelier for MENA's hospitality leaders to consider what drives positive guest experiences as they gear up for a record summer season and growing regional traveler volumes, with markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia forecast to receive over 60 million combined visitors in 2025. Guest expectations are evolving faster than ever, and in order to stay ahead, hospitality professionals must have a means to identify and measure the components of what makes a truly exceptional experience. By bringing rigor to professional growth, soft skill development, and engagement, properties and their service teams can create the kind of sustainable, repeatable, guest service that drives long-term loyalty.' In 2023, the UAE alone welcomed over 28 million international visitors. The largest share of visitors came from Western Europe (19 percent), with South Asia and GCC tourists just behind (18 and 16 percent respectively), accounting for an incredible 12 percent of GDP. Greater regional numbers paint an even clearer picture of the challenge and opportunity for the GCC's hospitality industry: 2024's tourism numbers to the Middle East reached 29 percent above 2019 levels, outperforming all over regions globally. The report was built by conducting a complete analysis of publicly available reviews for hotels from the region's most popular online travel platforms. Each property's score and subsequent rank is the result of aggregating the one hundred most recent reviews of each property from TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Maps, Expedia, and Atiom evaluated reviews for the following categories: attention to detail, butler service, customer care, customer service, exceptional service, friendly staff, guest experience, guest recognition, hospitality, housekeeping excellence, housekeeping praise, welcoming atmosphere, personal touches, personalized experience, room service excellence, service excellence, resolving service issues, service quality, special touches, staff attitude, and staff recognition. About Atiom: Atiom is an AI-powered technological behavioural change platform. It was founded in Asia to help provide an all-in-one solution for the hospitality industry to boost service, employee performance, and operational efficiency. Through its AI technology, it provides a range of tools including an AI tutor, mystery shopping, bite-sized training, community forums, as well as peer-to-peer recognition. The company has offices in the UAE, Singapore, Sweden, China, and Thailand whilst its customer base stretches across 70 countries.
Trade Arabia
30-04-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
Wego, Accor partner to enhance Mena travel engagement
Wego, a travel app in Middle East and North Africa, has partnered with Accor to strengthen its digital presence and connect with regional travellers. The partnership aims to expand Accor's reach in high-potential markets like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and other GCC countries, benefiting from Wego's deep understanding of local consumer behaviour and its ability to localize at scale. Craig Hewett, Co-Founder and Chief Hotels Officer at Wego, said: 'This collaboration with Accor couldn't come at a better time. As the region witnesses a surge in travel, our mission is to provide travelers with exceptional value and seamless access to the world's best hospitality. Partnering with Accor enables us to deliver curated hotel experiences to millions of users, reinforcing our commitment to innovation, personalization, and trust.' Accor will have real-time connectivity to Wego's platform, integrating its huge global hotel inventory, dynamic rate plans, and locally relevant offers, paving the way for seamless joint marketing efforts and regional content delivery. This seamless integration will make Accor's expansive hotel portfolio, spanning over 5,600 properties and more than 45 brands, instantly accessible to Wego's highly engaged user base across the region. Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer, Premium, Midscale & Economy, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Accor commented: 'This partnership represents a strategic alignment with the region's leading travel marketplace, a critical enabler in Accor's strategy to collectively scale its digital ecosystem and regional footprint. It's not just about greater visibility, it's about understanding the Middle Eastern traveller, and creating tailored, culturally relevant experiences that resonate with them. The timing of our partnership with Wego is also critical, sitting within Accor's broader digital transformation strategy across MEA APAC, as we move from traditional campaigns to a data-rich, always-on marketing model, engaging guests with personalized content across digital channels.''
Zawya
30-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Wego and Accor announce strategic partnership to expand global distribution and deepen traveler engagement across MENA
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Wego, the #1 travel app and the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has entered a new strategic distribution partnership with Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, as part of their commitment to deepen Accor's digital presence and strengthen the Group's connection with regional travelers across MENA. Through this collaboration, Accor is focused on expanding its reach across high potential markets including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and other GCC countries, benefitting from Wego's deep understanding of local consumer behavior and unmatched ability to localize at scale as a highly trusted platform in the region. Craig Hewett, Co-Founder and Chief Hotels Officer at Wego, said: 'This collaboration with Accor couldn't come at a better time. As the region witnesses a surge in travel, our mission is to provide travelers with exceptional value and seamless access to the world's best hospitality. Partnering with Accor enables us to deliver curated hotel experiences to millions of users, reinforcing our commitment to innovation, personalization, and trust.' Accor will have real-time connectivity to Wego's platform, integrating its huge global hotel inventory, dynamic rate plans, and locally relevant offers, paving the way for seamless joint marketing efforts and regional content delivery. This seamless integration will make Accor's expansive hotel portfolio, spanning over 5,600 properties and more than 45 brands, instantly accessible to Wego's highly engaged user base across the region. Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer, Premium, Midscale & Economy, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Accor commented: 'This partnership represents a strategic alignment with the region's leading travel marketplace, a critical enabler in Accor's strategy to collectively scale its digital ecosystem and regional footprint. It's not just about greater visibility, it's about understanding the Middle Eastern traveler, and creating tailored, culturally relevant experiences that resonate with them. The timing of our partnership with Wego is also critical, sitting within Accor's broader digital transformation strategy across MEA APAC, as we move from traditional campaigns to a data-rich, always-on marketing model, engaging guests with personalized content across digital channels.'' ''Together we're unlocking new opportunities to really understand our customers and personalize engagement, amplify our 45+ hotel brands, and drive commercial growth through Wego's powerful distribution capabilities, allowing Accor to reach new audiences and strengthen direct engagement across the MENA region,'' she added. The founding of this partnership is perfectly timed and naturally aligns with both companies' growth trajectories. As Wego evolves, and the company's influence grows, the well-established travel platform offers a robust, scalable technology stack, and deep consumer insights across MENA, mirroring Accor's own expansion efforts in the region. With Accor rapidly accelerating its regional footprint, strengthening its leadership in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt, the integration enables the hotel group to capture more share of MENA travelers' spend, and drive greater visibility for Accor brands and hotels, while continuing to deliver tailored experiences rooted in regional relevance. The collaboration also paves the way for deeper marketing alignment. Accor and Wego will launch joint campaigns that highlight top outbound destinations, such as Paris, London, Istanbul, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur that are consistently in demand among Wego users. With targeted messaging in Arabic, English, Urdu, and more, the partnership will ensure Accor's properties are featured in culturally localized, high-converting content across web, mobile, and email platforms. As both companies invest in scalable infrastructure and intelligent systems, this partnership is positioned to unlock stronger conversion, higher booking volumes, and enhanced brand equity. Accor's premium, midscale and economy offerings are increasingly resonating with MENA's growing middle class, while its luxury and lifestyle brands continue to attract high-value travelers seeking authenticity, emotional connection and innovation. Wego's ability to deliver tailored recommendations, powered by AI and predictive analytics, will further enhance traveler satisfaction and loyalty. Accor will also gain from Wego's localized payment ecosystem, which includes support for popular regional methods such as Mada in Saudi Arabia and Knet in Kuwait. Enhancing affordability and accessibility, Wego further empowers travelers through flexible Buy Now, Pay Later options via its partnership with Tabby. These offerings reflect Wego's ongoing commitment to delivering seamless, regionally attuned travel experiences, underpinned by best-in-class customer service tailored to the needs of today's MENA traveler.
Zawya
29-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Accor and Wego announce strategic partnership to expand global distribution
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, has entered a new strategic distribution partnership with Wego, the #1 travel app and the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as part of their commitment to deepen Accor's digital presence and strengthen the Group's connection with regional travelers across MENA. Through this collaboration, Accor is focused on expanding its reach across high potential markets including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and other GCC countries, benefitting from Wego's deep understanding of local consumer behavior and unmatched ability to localize at scale as a highly trusted platform in the region. Accor will have real-time connectivity to Wego's platform, integrating its huge global hotel inventory, dynamic rate plans, and locally relevant offers, paving the way for seamless joint marketing efforts and regional content delivery. This seamless integration will make Accor's expansive hotel portfolio, spanning over 5,600 properties and more than 45 brands, instantly accessible to Wego's highly engaged user base across the region. The founding of this partnership is perfectly timed and naturally aligns with both companies' growth trajectories. As Wego evolves, and the company's influence grows, the well-established travel platform offers a robust, scalable technology stack, and deep consumer insights across MENA, mirroring Accor's own expansion efforts in the region. With Accor rapidly accelerating its regional footprint, strengthening its leadership in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt, the integration enables the hotel group to capture more share of MENA travelers' spend, and drive greater visibility for Accor brands and hotels, while continuing to deliver tailored experiences rooted in regional relevance. Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer, Premium, Midscale & Economy, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Accor commented: 'This partnership represents a strategic alignment with the region's leading travel marketplace, a critical enabler in Accor's strategy to collectively scale its digital ecosystem and regional footprint. It's not just about greater visibility, it's about understanding the Middle Eastern traveler, and creating tailored, culturally relevant experiences that resonate with them. The timing of our partnership with Wego is also critical, sitting within Accor's broader digital transformation strategy across MEA APAC, as we move from traditional campaigns to a data-rich, always-on marketing model, engaging guests with personalized content across digital channels.'' ''Together we're unlocking new opportunities to really understand our customers and personalize engagement, amplify our 45+ hotel brands, and drive commercial growth through Wego's powerful distribution capabilities, allowing Accor to reach new audiences and strengthen direct engagement across the MENA region,'' she added. Craig Hewett, Co-Founder and Chief Hotels Officer at Wego, said: 'This collaboration with Accor couldn't come at a better time. As the region witnesses a surge in travel, our mission is to provide travelers with exceptional value and seamless access to the world's best hospitality. Partnering with Accor enables us to deliver curated hotel experiences to millions of users, reinforcing our commitment to innovation, personalization, and trust.' The collaboration also paves the way for deeper marketing alignment. Accor and Wego will launch joint campaigns that highlight top outbound destinations, such as Paris, London, Istanbul, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur that are consistently in demand among Wego users. With targeted messaging in Arabic, English, Urdu, and more, the partnership will ensure Accor's properties are featured in culturally localized, high-converting content across web, mobile, and email platforms. As both companies invest in scalable infrastructure and intelligent systems, this partnership is positioned to unlock stronger conversion, higher booking volumes, and enhanced brand equity. Accor's premium, midscale and economy offerings are increasingly resonating with MENA's growing middle class, while its luxury and lifestyle brands continue to attract high-value travelers seeking authenticity, emotional connection and innovation. Wego's ability to deliver tailored recommendations, powered by AI and predictive analytics, will further enhance traveler satisfaction and loyalty. Accor will also gain from Wego's localized payment ecosystem, which includes support for popular regional methods such as Mada in Saudi Arabia and Knet in Kuwait. Enhancing affordability and accessibility, Wego further empowers travelers through flexible Buy Now, Pay Later options via its partnership with Tabby. These offerings reflect Wego's ongoing commitment to delivering seamless, regionally attuned travel experiences, underpinned by best-in-class customer service tailored to the needs of today's MENA traveler. About Accor Accor is a world-leading hospitality group offering stays and experiences across more than 110 countries with over 5,600 hotels and resorts, 10,000 bars & restaurants, wellness facilities and flexible workspaces. The Group has one of the industry's most diverse hospitality ecosystems, encompassing around 45 hotel brands from luxury to economy, as well as Lifestyle with Ennismore. ALL, the booking platform and loyalty program embodies the Accor promise during and beyond the hotel stay and gives its members access to unique experiences. Accor is focused on driving positive action through business ethics, responsible tourism, environmental sustainability, community engagement, diversity, and inclusivity. Accor's mission is reflected in the Group's purpose: Pioneering the art of responsible hospitality, connecting cultures, with heartfelt care. Founded in 1967, Accor SA is headquartered in France. Included in the CAC 40 index, the Group is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACCYY) in the United States. For more information, please visit or follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. About Wego Wego is the number 1 travel app and the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It provides award-winning travel search websites and top-ranked mobile apps for travelers living in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions. Wego harnesses powerful yet simple to use technology that automates the process of searching and comparing results from hundreds of airlines, hotels, and online travel agency websites. Wego presents an unbiased comparison of all travel products and prices offered in the marketplace by merchants, both local and global, and enables shoppers to quickly find the best deal and place to book whether it is from an airline or hotel directly or with a third-party aggregator website. The company was founded in 2005 and is dual headquartered in Dubai and Singapore with regional operations in Bangalore, Riyadh, Cairo, Lahore, and Kuala Lumpur. Media Relations Contact: ACCOR Shareena Ali VP PR & Communications Middle East, Africa & Asia Pacific
