Accor woos women business travellers

Accor woos women business travellers

The European hotel chain Accor believes it can attract even more female business travellers in Thailand, where the ratio of one woman for every two men among such visitors is already one of the highest in Asia-Pacific."Greater gender equality among Thai business travellers is not an anomaly compared with other countries in the Asia-Pacific," said Evan Lewis, the vice-president for communications in the region.
A recent survey found 84% of female business travellers are selective, choosing hotels based on location and surroundings, while 63% are willing to pay extra to stay in hotels with a superior environment and facilities.
Mr Lewis said Accor would use the survey results to develop its products and services to meet guest demand.
The ratio of leisure to business travellers in Asia-Pacific is 40:60, while in Thailand alone it is 60:40.
Accor interviewed more than 10,000 respondents who travelled to the region on business in the first half of this year.
Thailand ranked third as the most frequent destination for business travellers at 29%, behind Singapore and Hong Kong (38% each).
The findings also showed that 29% intended to take a business trip to Thailand or China in the second half, while 39% named Singapore and 38% Hong Kong.
Business travellers from Malaysia (50%), Singapore (49%) and India (38%) were Thailand's top three markets.
Thai business travellers were the most conservative, making five trips in the first half and planning 4.8 trips in the second half. Most (55%) named Singapore as their main destination in the first half, followed by Hong Kong (44%) and China (31%).
Like other Asia-Pacific business travellers, Thai executives tend to choose hotels based mainly on location (49%), said Mr Lewis.
An interesting point of the survey was Thai business travellers came in second in booking directly through hotel websites at 59%, behind New Zealand (61%).
For online bookings through agents, Thai business travellers were second at 31%, behind their Chinese peers (36%).
The survey also found 71% of Thai business travellers stayed inside their hotels between 9 am and midnight, while 51% used hotel fitness centres and 29% on-site spas.
For future expectations, the survey found Thai business travellers would like to see new services by 2014 such as online check-in and check-out (48%), fully personalised service and food selection (32%) and in-room entertainment systems (32%).
Mr Lewis said another interesting point was female business travellers were concerned about environmental factors, internet connectivity, and food and beverage. They liked quality WiFi, good food and beverages. Free internet service is also another decisive factor.