Solutions

With a number of franchises operating in the Pacific region, the Accor hotel group wanted to help their staff to help each other. A structured communication environment for making connections and finding new team members, Accor FranchiseCommunity is a new section of the Accor Franchisenet Intranet that is already very popular.

“FranchiseCommunity adds another dimension to how we communicate with our Franchise network and more importantly how they communicate amongst themselves” says Dino Mezzatesta, General Manager for Franchise Hotels.

“Even in its initial days the concept and use of FranchiseCommunity is proving successful and people are sharing best practice and exchanging ideas.”

With hotel guests using online forums like Tripadvisor to share feedback and experiences, it makes sense for franchise staff to be learning from each other using a similar tool. FranchiseForum includes a general forum for all staff to use for sharing business improvement ideas and asking for advice, or to get to know their colleagues across the region – each user can post a photo on their profile so they can meet “face to face”. Separate forums for each hotel brand are designed for troubleshooting more specific issues.

“Art of Multimedia understood the dynamics we wanted to achieve and built a platform relevant to our business as we operate multi brands under the one umbrella. They took the time to understand and comprehend the different requirements before proposing the best solution” says Dino.

The new FranchiseJobs section supports franchise managers in sharing human resources within the Accor family of hotels. With FranchiseJobs, managers can fill seasonal positions and advertise jobs to Accor staff who already have prized knowledge and skills.

Developing the FranchiseCommunity using the Drupal CMS to enable future growth when new functionality is required, AOM worked closely with all Accor stakeholders to make sure the platform meets the needs of franchise executives. “AOM has a clear and concise way of communicating. The end result was that the system worked for the users and was tailored to their needs” says Dino.