HOTELS
generation: all the latest tropes are fea- tured, including communal spaces to relax, work, connect or eat, fast wifi and the latest in-room streaming technology (videos and music can be beamed from guests’ smart phones or other devices onto a 55-inch wall-mounted television screen). Better sound-proofing and bedding aim to improve sleep quality, and complimenta- ry “Grab and Go Breakfasts” are also provided. Even the name Avid suggests the enthusiasm that appeals to millennials. There is also a “just right” on arrival guarantee that anything amiss will be rectified or another room found; if that’s not possi- ble, the room will be free for that night. Work has started on a four further Avid Hotels in the US with another ten in the pipeline by the end of the year. Germany, meanwhile, will
become the first European country to get IHG’s latest brand with a deal recently announced for 15 Avid Hotels to be opened in the next few years, with the first set to come online in 2020. It’s also moving the conversation on – IHG added Holiday Inn Express hotels and
upped the design and technology ante with “Next Generation” rooms in 2016. With Avid coming on stream, a trend is emerging. Avid is being positioned in the hotel
brand pecking order just below the “upper midscale” niche where IHG’s other mid-market offering – Holiday Inn Express – can be found. Reaction has been positive – analysts at Credit Suisse, for example, said
THERE COULD BE A MAJOR SHAKE-UP IN THE BUDGET HOTELS SECTOR NEXT YEAR
it was IHG’s “most significant launch” since Holiday Inn Express in the early 1990s. The analysts noted there was scope for a mid-market chain, such as Avid, providing greater consistency and value for money to “shake up” the market, especially as it had been “underserved” in recent years. This, they claimed, was because there had been a lack of supply growth in mid-market prop-
erties over the past decade. Hotel owners and customers alike were not inspired. Moreover, IHG’s template for Avid suggests its room rates would generally be US$10 to US$15 below the equivalent found at Holiday Inn Express. Former IHG chief executive Richard Solomons said when the brand was first mooted in mid-2017, the target customers were “people who are careful about how they spend their money.” Just like travel buyers. The challenge facing travel buyers, however, is getting best value in a hotels market where the outlook for 2019 remains uncertain, according to forecasters such as PwC. “Hotel trading growth is set to flatten in the year ahead due to eco- nomic uncertainty, weak business travel demand and an influx of new rooms scheduled to open,” it said in a late September update. Any slowdown – or even down- turn – in the UK hotels market in the coming 12 months will,
however, inevitably change the nature of rate negotiations. Chris Roe, vice-president sales, distribution and loyalty at AccorHotels UK, says: “Settling rates ultimately comes down to a very complex equation involving our account managers, travel buyers and TMCs.” He adds: “We will always have more flexi- bility on pricing and added value items when we see volume driven towards us.”
MID-MARKET: TOP THREE PLAYERS IN EUROPE
BRAND UPPER MIDSCALE MERCURE HOLIDAY INN
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MIDSCALE
IBIS
BEST WESTERN RAMADA
LOWER MIDSCALE
The new London City Travelodge Plus features SuperRooms
106 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
PREMIER INN IBIS BUDGET TRAVELODGE
WHITBREAD TRAVELODGE SOURCE: HOTEL BRANDS REPORT 2018/HOTELANALYST 69,297
ACCORHOTELS 44,916 37,000
buyingbusinesstravel.com
ACCORHOTELS 63,945 IHG IHG
ACCORHOTELS 82,342 BW INT’L
WYNDHAM
46,024 29,508
62,000 31,000
OWNER ROOMS
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