IBIS – Hotel Report

Ibis, the popular economy hotel chain, opened its first hotel in 1974, in the French town of Bordeaux. Since then, the company has expanded globally, reaching 40 countries worldwide, opening over 800 hotels. The majority of chains have been established in France, while the UK hosts over 50 chains, with further four hotel openings expected in December 2009. Recently, the chain has introduced a strategy to “promote the chain’s drive for ‘greater and greener customer comfort’”. (Mintel 2009)
The Company
The chain is owned by the French firm ‘Accor’, a global corporation operating in the travel and tourism industry. Accor leads a number of brands, with Ibis falling under its ‘Accor Hospitality’ sector. As a two star …show more content…

Not only this, a new feature on the website is an Ibis ‘green press kit’. The comprehensive 15 page document claims Ibis to be “the first international economy hotel chain to obtain ISO 14001 certification” and “75% of ibis hotels will be ISO 14001 certified by the end of 2010” (ibisenvironment.com Press Kit 2009). This leads to the assumption Ibis doesn’t manage to make consumers aware of their environment ideals, or haven’t been able to in the 6 months since launch.

However, all those questioned in the Mintel report had heard of the chain, or had experienced it. After conducting a very brief piece of primary research, only half of the 20 people I asked had even heard of the chain. This raises the point that the sheer dominance of the larger ‘budget hotels’ were disadvantaging the smaller chains, with a high level of brand awareness. Not only this, Ibis’s minimal promotional budget seems to have had an impact on brand awareness.

Product/Brand Interrogation

The classic budget hotel, “offer(s) inexpensive 'no frills' accommodation with limited food and beverage provisions. This concept brings the hotel closer to the core benefit 'shelter' and eliminates the peripheral services provided in luxury hotels” (WARC 1990) By looking the Ibis website, it seems that they intend to break the stigma of budget hotels by introducing a range of additional services. Their tagline “hotels the way you like them” suggests that