DALLAS— The swipe of an oversized key card opened the door to a supplier-rich trade show this morning, signaling the start of Accor Lodging North America’s 2002 convention here at the Hyatt Regency Reunion, the first time the five ALNA brands are meeting jointly. Some 850 franchisees, employees and suppliers are on hand for the event, dubbed “One World, One Vision,” which runs through the weekend. “Unlocking” the show were ALNA president/CEO Georges Le Mener and Paris-based Sven Boinet, management board member in charge of hotels, with an assist from sports personality George Forman, former world heavyweight boxing champion. Prior kicking off the show, Le Mener told HOTEL BUSINESS® he hoped attendees would enjoy the conference. “I think 2001 has been a tough year for everybody. We had a very reasonable year at Accor and I think we are the only hotel company in the world that is showing an increase in profit in 2001 compared to 2000.” France-based Accor earlier this month posted results for 2001 exceeding expectations, with profits before taxes coming in at $758 million against a post-Sept. 11 forecast of $700 million to $750 million. “It’s probably worth celebrating,” continued Le Mener. “At the same time, we have real strategic issues to discuss. So I hope we are going to work a lot and also have a lot of fun.” “It’s very exciting,” said Carol Kirby, group evp/sales and marketing, “Because for the first time we have all the brands together in North America and it’s very ambitious to put together a grouping that goes all the way from Sofitel to Motel 6.” The brand range includes Novotel, Red Roof Inns and Studio 6. Looking ahead to some of the top-of-mind issues that will play out over the next several days, Kirby acknowledged, “Everybody is obviously concerned about the declines in occupancy that have happened since Sept. 11. We’re very fortunate that our brands and our products have recovered better than the rest of the marketplace based on the data we see, and I think people are anxious to see what we’ve got for programs for them for 2002 to help them recover some of the ground that’s been lost over the past six months.” Those initiatives will be discussed during sessions on Saturday, she said. “On Saturday, we’ll be presenting the key messages for the brands, the direction we’re going in, the strategy,” said David O’Shaughnessy, group evp/franchise, quality and technical services. “Many members of the senior management board from Paris are here as well, so everybody— regardless of what brand they belong to— will be hearing the message for Accor in the United States, Canada and Mexico.” Franchise meetings and brand training sessions also are scheduled and will target such issues as diversity, communications and promoting a service culture In addition, O’Shaughnessy noted, “we’ve got a huge vendor show, 130 vendors. These are all the vendors that provide products and services to Accor Lodging North America. In the past it used to be just the vendors that provided services to economy lodging, but now we’ve got vendors that are providing food & beverage type services— things that would be foreign to the economy industry, but very familiar to the people at the higher end. So, for products we have in common we can negotiate on the strength of buying power. Not every product is common to all the different brands, but many things are, and a lot of services are common whether you’re a Sofitel or whether you’re a Motel 6, such as pest control, plumbing supplies and telecommunications. There’s a good range and we’re looking forward to a great day with that.”
