Behind the Quote: Accor unveils its Purpose statement: “Pioneering the Art of Responsible Hospitality, Connecting Cultures, with Heartfelt Care”
Hospitality Net's Behind the Quote (BTQ) initiative aims to provide deeper insights and a more comprehensive understanding of selected stories published on Hospitality Net.
This time, Willy Legrand had the opportunity of diving deeper into a recent press release by Accor: 'Accor unveils its Purpose statement: “Pioneering the Art of Responsible Hospitality, Connecting Cultures, with Heartfelt Care”'. Willy posed three insightful questions to Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO at Accor who provided expert responses.
Considering the Accor group's broad brand portfolio with varying ownership and operation models across more than 100 countries, how does Accor implement the principles outlined in the new purpose statement within its daily business operations? (in other words, how can one ensure that each member pulls on the same string in the same direction?)
We are currently developing a comprehensive communication and action plan. First, we will provide a Purpose toolkit to help Heartists convey our Purpose to both internal and external stakeholders, and to assist teams in integrating it into their daily operations. Second, we will establish a Purpose Champion Community that spans across regions, brands, and functions. This community will ensure a widespread understanding of our Purpose. The Purpose Champions will be distributed as widely as possible across all regions, brands, and function.
Are there specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or more informal indicators that Accor intends to use to assess progress against the commitments in each of the four strategic pillars?
The Purpose statement relies on strong foundations and is structured around four key strategic pillars. We have defined 8 commitments, 2 per pillar and the fulfillment of these commitments will be tracked using specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). To avoid adding a new set of metrics, the KPIs associated with the Purpose are based on existing KPIS. We are currently working on centralizing the monitoring of these KPIs and appointing a governance body responsible for overseeing them.
Are the partnerships with Green Key and Green Globe, as announced in 2023, a core component of the 'Responsible hospitality' pillar? What are the other major plans under that pillar?
The "Responsible hospitality pillar" encompasses 2 commitments, each of them having sub-commitments :
Commitment #1
We set the industry standards for ethical and responsible operations:
- We create new standards to make responsible and ethical operations a reality in our industry
- We incentivize and upskill Heartists to implement responsible-oriented initiatives
- We promote values to drive progress in terms of ethics and human rights
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We strongly support local communities with
opportunities for employment and social progress
Commitment #2
We strive to make every stay a contribution to society and the environment
- We promote cross-sector initiatives to foster sustainable transformation at system level
- We design desirable and sustainable experiences and solutions for Guests and Owners
- We promote and encourage sustainable
behaviors among our stakeholders - We accelerate the Accor climate roadmap, advancing global warming solutions
- We reduce and optimize the use of natural resources
- We propose fine culinary experience; locally-sourced, healthy and low impact food
A set of KPIS are associated to this pillar and the % of Eco-certified hotels is one of these KPIS.
