AccorHotels Chinese website sees 53% increase in Asia Pacific booking revenue and 93% increase in China year on year*

One year after revamping its accorhotels.cn Chinese-language website, AccorHotels has proven the power of the Chinese market, releasing figures that show a 53% increase in direct bookings revenue across its Asia Pacific network and an increase of 93% for China hotels year on year between July 2014 through June 2015.*

AccorHotels was the first international group to launch a Chinese-language booking engine back in 2005, but it was a revamp in 2014 which created a more Chinese-centric experience that really saw bookings surge, including a 37% increase in bookings worldwide. This highlights the increasing power of Chinese travellers and proves that making the booking process easier leads to greater sales.

“We are thrilled at the performance of accorhotels.cn since relaunching in late 2014,” said Paul Richardson, AccorHotels Chief Operating Officer, Greater China. “We were hoping to see a 30% increase in direct bookings as a result of the revamp, but we have far exceeded this.

“With the Chinese outbound market set to reach up to 140 million travellers this year, our goal is to ensure that Chinese travellers book their hotels directly with accorhotels.cn no matter where they are headed and the best way to do this is to build a website they can use easily and that they can trust,” said Mr Richardson.

The site proves that AccorHotels’ decision to introduce 32 geo-located versions of its website in 18 languages has a direct correlation with surging bookings, meaning the group provides the easiest and most transparent way for travellers to book their accommodation, no matter where they are from, or what language they speak.

AccorHotels’ Chinese-language website generates close to 50% bookings for hotels in both China and France, with the next three top destinations being Thailand, Germany and Australia for the first half of 2015. The site provides the safest, most transparent and simplest way for Chinese travellers to access almost 3,800 AccorHotels properties across 94 countries all in the one place.

Making it even easier for Chinese travellers to book directly, AccorHotels recently introduced Union Pay online payment for several hotels in China and aims to roll this out globally so the vast majority of Chinese citizens who don’t own credit cards will be able to book and pay wherever they go within the network. The group expects direct online business will grow exponentially with the widespread availability of this payment method. The move is just one part of AccorHotels €225m digital transformation strategy which will enhance every part of the customer journey.

AccorHotels currently has 160 hotels in Greater China across its Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, The Sebel, Novotel, Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles brands. The group recently signed a strategic alliance with Huazhu Hotels Group, a leading Chinese operator which has 2000 hotels in its network. Travellers will soon be able to access hotels from both groups at the accorhotels.cn site.

Proving that Chinese travellers love good value for money, some of the top hotels booked (outside of China) included the ibis Singapore on Bencoolen (the #1 hotel booked in the first half of 2015), Mercure Sapporo, Mercure Roma Piazza Bologna and ibis Milano Central.