In a move to try to keep OTAs at bay and drive more bookings through its own channels, Accor has acquired Fastbooking, a French company founded in 2000 that provides daily support to nearly 4,000 hotels worldwide.
The move should not come as a big surprise as in January, Accor Chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin told HOTELS that he is adamant about his company getting into the digital services game and compete with OTAs and the likes of TripAdvisor, Trivago and Kayak.
Fastbooking’s key areas of expertise are hotel website development, distribution channel management solutions, digital marketing campaign management, revenue management optimization tools and competitive intelligence. Its two main markets are Europe and Asia. Accor says it will be business as usual for Fastbooking, even if its clients compete directly with Accor.
Accor said the confidentiality of data relating to Fastbooking’s client hotels will be fully preserved. At the same time, the expertise of Fastbooking’s teams will broaden the range of services that Accor can offer to its hotels.
“The take-over of Fastbooking will help speed up the implementation of our digital strategy,” Bazin said. “Following the acquisition of Wipolo last October, this new transaction enables us to further expand our capabilities and strengthen our digital expertise for the benefit of our hotels.”