Does Accor Plan to Be the Next WeWork?

Accor is gearing up for a “full-blast” launch of its co-working space brand Wojo in Asia.

Wojo is a joint venture with Bouygues Immobilier, which it developed in 2015. The French property developer teamed up with the hotel group in 2017, and currently some 300 Accor properties in a few European countries and Brazil provide offices, co-working spaces or “Wojo Spots” — these are essentially Wi-Fi areas in lobbies or other public spaces. In the UK, it’s also on trend transforming rooms into offices.

Now, Accor’s deputy CEO and chief financial officer wants to pursue Asia.

“The place where we would like to push this is Asia. We’re big in Asia, but currently because of Covid it’s difficult to push that offer,” Jean-Jacques Morin told Skift. “There are regions we had been working in before Covid. As soon as things normalize this summer, we’re going to go full blast.”

The company had expected to expand Wojo to 900 properties by 2023, but Morin thinks he can top this. “The demand is strong, you just need better visibility without Covid. There is pent-up demand,” he said.

Follow the Money

Accor will take a leaf out of IWG’s book by going for the big companies. IWG, which operates brands including Regus and Spaces, recently signed a deal with technology company NTT to give 300,000 employees worldwide access to its co-working spaces.

“We’re pitching to large companies in France, helping them understand how we can be an alternative solution for their employees. They’re very interested,” Morin said. “Companies want to reduce the cost of real estate by 10 to 20 percent. This is part of the solution.”

Morin was talking to Skift from Accor’s large Paris headquarters, which is still up for sale. He said there were just 50 employees in the building, but it can accommodate 1,800. This was due in part to France’s restrictions as it battles peak coronavirus cases.

He sees Wojo as a business-to-business brand, rather than a consumer brand, and that some corporate client wins would be announced soon. While Wojo has a presence in France, the UK, Germany and Spain, he said Europe was easier to expand in — “it’s on our turf” — but he sees a lot of potential in Asia.

Is Asia ready for Wojo?

While some countries, and industries, seem more accepting of remote work, Asia could be different.

“Many Asian countries have a high power distance, which means the boss is ‘the boss,'” said John Lee, co-founder and chief operating officer of CultureMee. “I have heard from other culture experts that many Asian bosses, especially older ones, dislike virtual meetings because it puts them on an equal footing as everyone else.”

For example, the screen size is the same whether you’re the CEO or a junior employee. As a result, Asian companies may have a slightly higher cultural preference for staff to remain in offices, not hotel lobbies, compared to their European/U.S. counterparts, he added.

“There is a strong interest in seeing teams back in the office, in many cases for good reasons, in some just because of the traditional belief in being ‘seen to work,'” said Hugh Batley, co-founder of Singapore-based travel management app TruTrip.

“Singapore recently relaxed the office capacity constraints, so we’re now at 75 percent allowed. There was a big push to get back to the office,” he added. “We’re hearing the same in Indonesia and Malaysia, although the constraints are a bit mixed.”

Lee also pointed that Asia has lived through pandemics before, in particular SARS. The work habit shake-up many countries are experiencing may be less pronounced in Asia.

This wouldn’t be the first time Accor has looked to reach deeper. In 2019, it entered into a partnership with Alibaba, for example.

“The way people are going to do business is definitely changing,” said business travel consultant Ivan Delantivy, who previously worked at Accor for 12 years. “In Asia, I can’t see why the model won’t work out there. The fact Accor is doing this, I’d like to think they know what they’re doing. They will have studied the market.”

Sidenotes

What’s the collective noun for a group of remote workers? One hotel and co-working space company is going with “cohort” as it launches a new subscription service.

Zoku, based in the Netherlands, has opened applications for people to join a group of 25 people who will spend three months living and working together in three countries.

Its Amsterdam property has 130 “loft” micro-apartments, which are flexible home-office spaces, but it will dedicate one floor of 25 rooms to this cohort.

Zoku opens in Copenhagen opens next month. Picture: Zoku

After one month, the group will travel to Denmark’s capital Copenhagen, where a new Zoku property opens on May 10.

After a month there, they head to Vienna; Zoku opens another property in Austria’s capital city on June 14.

The expansion triples the hotel’s room count, and was made possible off the back of an unusually successful year with occupancy levels at 85 percent.

“There wasn’t much interest in our work lofts a few years ago, but we’ve rented out hundreds recently,” said marketing manager Elise Hofman.

Zoku was founded in 2016, built with digital nomads and young professionals in mind. Hofman said that as a Certified B Corporation, it makes better use of its work spaces than offices: at night, the lofts convert into living spaces.

Is Vetting a Fair Process?

Back to the subscription idea, and Zoku is charging €2,750 ($3,300) per month. There’s a “flexi” option where you pay this same amount and choose to live and work at any property, but if you want to be part of the lucky 25, there’s a vetting process. Overall, it seems more generous than Mint House’s version of a subscription, which offers a 30 percent discount rather than unlimited stays.

There’s only been 30 applications so far, but after the pandemic competition could hot up — Hofman said it “curates a group of 25 like-minded people” because it wants to create a built-in community, but in the future this model could be viewed as discriminatory. What if brand Zoku feels your face doesn’t fit?

However, its Subscription Living idea is new territory, made possible by the pandemic, and addresses elements of social insulation some remote workers may be feeling.

With its Wojo venture, could Accor succeed in curating similar “cohorts” of remote workers to travel the world together, particularly in Asia?

10-Second Corporate Travel Catch-Up

Who and what Skift has covered over the past week: Convene, corporate retreats, European Sleeper, Kudo, Las Vegas, Marriott, Soho House, Travelport.

In Brief

Business Travel Back Up To 70 Percent

A poll of 15,000 employees across 60 countries has revealed a strong appetite to travel for business this year. Sixty three percent of respondents said they planned to travel within six months by October 1, putting the industry on track for 70 percent of travelers saying “yes” to travel by the end of the year.

GoldSpring Consultancy’s Business Traveler Sentiment survey also showed six percent of travelers aimed to travel within the next 30 days, with Great Britain the most eager to get back, at 24 percent of business travelers wanting to travel within a month. France comes in second at 17 percent.

Tripbam Adds Its First Serviced Apartment Provider

Benchmarking and re-shopping platform Tripbam has added SilverDoor’s global inventory of serviced apartments. Travel managers use Tripbam to re-book different properties as they become cheaper. This latest partnership means its corporate clients can spot travelers who have booked long-term stays, and shift them to SilverDoor’s properties. Tripbam said the average length of stay for business trips has increased by an extra day on average compared to 2019.

United Airlines Slots More Flights Into Concur’s Booking Tool

Concur Travel users can now access so-called new distribution capability content from United Airlines. Flights are available through its Select Access feature, powered by TravelFusion. Concur Travel also displays new distribution capability content from Lufthansa and British Airways. SAP Concur is still piloting a connection with American Airlines.

HRS Buys German Travel Billing Company Itelya

Corporate lodging platform HRS has acquired billing company Itelya. It is used in 180 countries, and specializes in travel invoice collection and data management, as well as supplier payments and tax reclaim. HRS said the acquisition will be rolled into its new Pay2Reimburse solution.