Hospitality giant Accor says it has not yet observed a decline in corporate client bookings or changed travel policies in response to economic uncertainty linked to US President Donald Trump or ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
Speaking to travelBulletin, Accor’s Chief Commercial Officer for MEA Premium, Midscale and Economy, Kerry Healy, said that if there were to be any impact, it might manifest in businesses opting for four-star hotels over five-star options.
“When there’s cost-of-living pressure, I think we \[Accor] still does well,” Healy said.
“But I also think cost-of-living pressure is reshaping how people travel, but it doesn’t always mean they’re travelling less.”
Healy noted that based on previous experiences with recessions and global economic downturns, corporate travel policies are usually among the first areas to shift, but Accor has not yet seen evidence of this.
“Corporate and GDS bookings for Q1 are up,” Healy refuted.
“You know, if you looked at the devil in the detail, I’m sure some of the companies might be down, but others are trading up.
“We had an extremely strong start to Jan [and] Feb across the Pacific,” Healy said.
“Obviously [in] Mar, you have the cyclone [Alfred], but if you remove the cyclone impact, Q1 was a great result.
“And the pace into Apr and May is continuing into Jun, because what we’re looking at now is looking good,” Healy added.
Despite strong booking trends, Accor is preparing to ramp up brand-specific marketing campaigns throughout the remainder of 2025 and into 2026, particularly around major upcoming events.
This strategic push follows an 8.4% increase in brand awareness for Mantra, attributed to a stadium and event takeover during last year’s State of Origin in Sydney, held at the eponymous Accor Stadium.
Healy said the stadium and State of Origin takeover elevated the Mantra brand significantly.
“Mantra took over the entire stadium, with 3.4 million live viewers and 15 minutes of prime time brand visibility, it delivered \$4.6 million in media value.
“Brand awareness for Mantra jumped 8.4% year-on-year, and 3.9% of that lift was from the audience,” Healy said.
Consumers can now expect to see a stronger focus on the Novotel and Pullman brands.
“We will spend more money on mono-brand campaigns to really build the communication and the advocacy for these brands, as well as still running our all-encompassing ‘ALL’ campaigns as well,” Healy foreshadowed.
