AccorHotels announced today its bet by the Lifestyle segment establishing ta Division inside the group comprising the Jo & Joe, Mama Shelter and 25h Hotels brands.
The French hotel multinational has also announced the appointmen of Cédric Gobilliard as the Head the new Division. Gobilliard will take on his new position on 1st February 2017. He will report directly to Sébastien Bazin (Chairman and CEO AcccorHotels).
“Increasingly, travelers appreciate unique brands with strong personalities that are both working environments for urban nomads and places to meet people and enjoy interesting experiences. AccorHotels is therefore expanding its offer in the Lifestyle segment, which is one of the sector’s most dynamic.” Sébastien Bazin declared on the launch of the new Lifestyle Divission.
Working for AccorHotels since 2009
Cédric Gobilliard joined AccorHotels group in 2009 after 10 years with Club Med where he was CEO of North America.
At AccorHotels, he has been responsible for the Internet activities, for the launch of the Le Club AccorHotels card.
The partnership between AccorHotels and Pur Projet, a social enterprise that develops reforestation programmes around the world, allows members of the AccorHotels Club loyalty programme to convert their points into trees planted from the accorhotels.com website. Within five years, the “Plant for the Planet” programme will have planted ten million trees.
This is just one of the actions for sustainable tourism under AccorHotels Planet 21 initiative.
Gobilliard has been as well responsible for global sales in France and Novotel and Mercure brand operations in the French proinces.
Gobilliard helped transform the guest experience in this segment, by rolling out digital tools.
In the latest two years, Cédric Gobilliard has also successfully managed relations with the Mama Shelter teams. He now undertakes the responsibility of accelerating the deployment of these new Lifestyle brands. He will as well be responsible for promoting innovative, original and visionary new offers within the Group.
Jo & Joe, a good example of the new AccorHotels approach to the midscale segment
This disruptive concept was launched by AccorHotels in late September 2016 with the millennials client segment in mind.
To lay the foundations of the Jo&Joe community, the Marketing Innovation Lab worked with teachers and students from the Webschool Factory, a Paris-based management school specializing in design, marketing and digital technology. In fact digital tech and apps are key in Jo&Joe to enhance the guests experience and services.
The brand introduces disruptive concepts in accomodation, catering and design as well as integrating a “social” conception of the hotel experience in a way just introduced by social born concepts like airbnb or innovative companies such as Room Mate.
Jo&Joe brings attached an experiential community application, which was designed by a network of internal and external experts to help forge links between Townsters (people living in the town where the hotle is located) , Tripsters (travelers) and the Jo & Joe team. As a digital experience enhancer, it enables Townsters and Tripsters to connect, meet, initiate events, share tips, or arrange to get together for a meal or a walk. All these features are “social accelerators”.
The catering offer is based on research and in-depth analysis into Millennials’ aspirations. The result is an unconventional offering starting at €10 for a menu, with a focus on interaction, sharing and simple, healthy flavors, at the bar, several restaurant concepts and the collaborative kitchen.
The bar is central to the Jo&Joe social experience. Its unique design and high visibility from the street encourage local residents to join guests to enjoy a wide range of drinks, focused on a flagship product (wine, beer or cocktails), with a unique selection promoting local and craft products.
Local, affordable craft cuisine delivers quality without the frills. Jo&Joe offers a range of simple and authentic restaurant concepts with a warm atmosphere: grill, open flame barbecue, wok or wood fire pizzas.
The collaborative kitchen offers guests a showcase for their culinary talents and a stage for sharing their best recipes. Guests wanting to keep their budget under control can use the space to cook meals, just for themselves or for an actual tribe.
Jo&Joe features innovative accommodation solutions for people traveling alone, in pairs, in groups or as a family, with rates starting from €25 a night: The Happy House, Together, Yours and OOO!
The Happy House is a private area where Tripsters can relax, work, cook or wash their clothes, just like at home.
Together embodies the essence of the brand, is an ingenious modular sleeping area that guests share with no loss of privacy. In addition to spacious beds, private lockers, reading lights and USB ports, guests have access to shared recreation areas and bathrooms.
Yours consists of rooms and apartments for two to five people with a private bathroom and, depending on the format, a kitchen area. Thought for small groups and families, the space offers a completely different look from a conventional hotel room thanks to originally shaped and extremely comfortable beds.
OOO! (Out Of the Ordinary) offers unexpected accommodation for people traveling alone or in groups of up to six people. Different at each Jo&Joe venue, these original formats include yurts, hammock and caravans aimed to provide guests a new and unforgettable experience.
Jo&Joe’s disruptive design was co-created with UK design company Penson, known for creating intelligent and aesthetic spaces for the world’s most visionary brands.
Flagship works include campuses for Google, YouTube, Jaguar Land Rover, Playstation, Jay Z’s ROCnation and interiors of the world’s 5th tallest building, Lotte World Tower.
Having never worked on a hotel before, Penson delivered a decisively innovative and singular solution far from industry conventions.
Lee Penson Joe&Joe designer underscores: “A well-designed space is the secret to a happy and satisfying life – life is too short to spend time in sad or inefficient surroundings.”
The brand wanted to break with the conventional vertical distribution of spaces and functions delivering instead a free flow, flexible and rebel approach aimed to meet the expectations of its millennial guests.
Jo&Joe features also a strong and distinctive brand identity conceived by advertising W. It doesn’t matter whether Jo is a girl and Joe is a guy, or the other way around. The name can be read any way because “”JO&JOE is an open house that blends genres. There is no right or wrong way to read the logo either: a dot as yellow as the sun, alive, radiant, variable shapes, multiple styles, the brand regenerates and nourishes itself with local culture and vibes.
Image over the headline.- Jo&Joe hotel in Paris (Together accomodation offer). © AccorHotels.
