Strategy

Answer

RESOURCES, CAPABILITIES AND CHALLENGES OF ACCOR HOTELS

            Accor Hotels is a French company that owns and operates hotels, vacation properties and resorts. The multination hospitality company is the largest hotel group worldwide outside the USA. The company which was started in 1967 has its headquarters in Paris and operates in 99 other countries. Accor employs at least 250,000 people across its properties. In 2018, the company’s operating income was a whopping €550 million. Today, its portfolio includes at least 4,200 hotels. Brands that are affiliated to Accor Hotels include Pullman, Raffles, Sofitel, Fairmont and Novotel. The company has maintained stellar success for over 50 years due to several internal capabilities and resources (Demirçiftçi and Kızılırmak 2016) . However, as the country undergoes digital transformation, it must develop new resources and capabilities to prepare for the challenges that it might face.

            Accor’s greatest capability is innovation (Sen and Kaushik 2016). The company has an up-to-date optimized website that has made booking much easier for its customers. The company’s website sees at least 90 million visitors annually. 80% of hotel bookings are actually made online via the company’s website. In addition, the company has a tech support team that installs and maintains wireless systems in its hotels so that the frontline teams have easy and quick access to the information needed to serve customers (Sen and Kaushik 2016).

            Accor’s greatest asset is its people who are not only highly experienced and trained but also highly motivated to offer the best service to customers. The system of employees and hotel owners creates a unique system of expertise          which has build Accor into a renowned brand. In addition, the company has a network of 200 buyers and 2800 suppliers globally. This ensures that the company maintains a high standard of quality and professionalism.

            Despite its existing capabilities and resources, Accor must build more resources and capabilities for a smooth digital transformation. Such capabilities include a stronger training and development strategy (Sen and Kaushik 2017). New technology is itself a challenge because the employees may require some time to adjust. The company can help its employees to adjust by rolling out a training program to help employees familiarize themselves with the new technology. This will not only ensure a smooth transition but also prevent the wastage of valuable company time.

            Accor should also consider investing in a new website or a mobile application. While a website is great, many people today are using mobile applications to access services due to the fact that mobile apps are personal and convenient (Hudson and Hudson 2017). Most mobile applications allow the user to create an account where there usage data is stored so that they can access it easily. This also allows the company to track the preferences of their users so that they can make improvements to their services. A mobile app would also give Accor a great competitive advantage over its competitors in the European hotel industry. Since the company is already committed to providing innovative services, this would boost their current innovative strategies.

            The biggest challenge that Accor is likely to face in its move towards digital transformation is internal resistance. When people are used to doing things a certain way, they are likely to reject anything that affects that comfort zone. Any change within organizations is first met by fear (Hudson and Hudson 2017). Usually employees become afraid that the organisation is trying to get rid of them. They may feel isolated if the management did not include them in the decision making process. The employees may hesitate to adapt to the new system out of fear that the management is looking for excuses to fire them. This can easily be handled by assuring the employees that the new system will make their work easier and help in the achievement of organisational objectives.

            Aside from the hesitation, there may also be a challenge of integrating the new system into the company’s operations. This is because there is a lot of training and education that needs to be done so that each member of the company knows what is expected of him/her. This process may consume a lot of company resources both in terms of the cost of training and the time spent on training. Nonetheless, the company must educate and train the employees to avoid future issues.

            In conclusion, Accor has achieved great success through effective utilisation of its people and the use of technology. The company must continue to adopt the latest technology so as to stay on top. However, challenges may rise in the move towards digital transformation. These challenges can be averted through effective human resource strategies.succeeding [] ]