By Steve Hartridge, published 20/05/20

Hotel group Accor and insurance company AXA have joined forces to provide medical support to guests staying at 5,000 Accor hotels worldwide.

From July, the partnership will enable Accor guests to benefit from AXA’s coverage that includes assistance services, travel insurance and credit protection. Accor guests will be able to draw upon AXA’s recent advances in ‘telemedicine’ through free access to medical teleconsultations.

They will also have access to an extensive range of ‘vetted medical professionals’, with staff at hotels in the 110 destinations where Accor operates able to make the most relevant referrals, depending on language, specialty and other factors.

Accor says the partnership is a key pillar of its post-COVID-19 rebound strategy, and complements the enhanced health and prevention protocols it has put in place, primarily through its ALLSAFE Cleanliness label in anticipation of the progressive reopening of its hotels across the different regions.

“Welcoming, safeguarding and taking care of others is at the very heart of what we do and who we are as hoteliers. This distinctive partnership with AXA…makes even more sense in today’s context….. our 300,000 team members on the ground will be able to assist our guests and ensure their safety during their stays, turning our hotels into shelters,” said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of Accor.

For AXA, the partnership strengthens its payer-to-partner strategy, which aims to provide services to its customers in health, one of its areas of growth in its recently-released ‘Ambition 2020’ plan.

“Partnering with Accor offers a unique opportunity to enlarge people’s access to our healthcare expertise and solutions. As we are facing an unprecedented health crisis with Covid-19, this ambition has never been more relevant,” said Thomas Buberl, CEO of AXA.

Accor brands include Raffles, Banyon Tree, Orient Express, Fairmont, Sofitel, Mondrian Pullman, Swissotel, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Ibis, Budget and several others.

The hotel group this week confirmed it had secured an additional $560 million credit facility to guard against the financial impacts of the Coronovirus pandemic. The cash boosts Accor’s available liquidity to more than $4 billion, which it claims is enough to sustain it under current market conditions for more than 40 months.