Hotel group Accor has launched a new
hybrid meetings concept in collaboration with Microsoft.
All Connect, which launches in April 2021,
is aimed at small meetings with between 8 and 50 participants. Meetings using
the new platform will take place in Accor meeting spaces and using Microsoft's Teams Rooms
and Surface Hub 2S interactive whiteboard technologies.
Accor says 55 per cent of its hotels
with meeting rooms are already providing hybrid meetings solutions to clients
and has a target of 100 per cent of all brands by 2022.
Patrick
Mendes, group chief commercial officer at Accor, said:
“The Covid-19 pandemic
has caused business travellers and meeting planners to review the way they
work. Virtual and hybrid formats have become an essential part of daily
business life.”
Jean-Philippe
Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft global sales,
marketing & operation, said: “The future of work is hybrid, and the
services and experiences which organisations offer their customers will reflect
this."
Research by Accor found that 50 per cent of physical meetings planned by the clients in 2021 are switching to virtual formats, and that 70 per cent of respondents see hybrid meetings as an important service in the future.