Accor’s Ibis family of brands — Ibis, Ibis Budget and Ibis Styles — turn 50 years old in this year.
The actual anniversary will be in September, but with France hosting the 2024 Paris Olympics, the brands have already started celebrating.
Julie White, Accor’s chief commercial officer for premium, midscale and economy brands in Europe and North Africa, said the French hotel company's Ibis trio is rooted in its economy-sector fundamentals.
“Ibis has always been geared in it being the first hotel brand in Europe that was economy but had standards that were new and acceptable for any type of traveler,” she said.
European travelers sought out affordable trips in decades past, and the Ibis brand embraced that type of traveler, White said.
“Ibis was positioned as a democratizing idea, the first brand where affordability was to be a key differentiator. It grew very quickly because guests recognized they could get a standardized product in an era, the 1970s, in which travel was not as familiar as it is today,” she said. “Hotels then were reached by a car trip. Now it is via low-cost [airlines], but the family staying still wants the same elements they did 50 years ago.”
In 2012, the Ibis brand split into three stand-alone brands. Ibis kept the original blueprint, while Ibis Budget is “simpler and appeals to a more sensitive share of wallet,” White said.
Ibis Styles “is more boutique, more fun in design and character,” she added.
Ibis Styles emerged from Accor brand All Seasons, and Ibis Budget emerged from another former brand called Etap. Today, Accor has more than 40 hotel brands, as well as co-working, venue and villa-rental brands.
White said the triumvirate of Ibis brands has more than 2,500 hotels in 79 countries worldwide. There are 320 hotels in the Ibis brands' global pipeline, 120 of which are in development in Europe and North Africa.
Ibis has its roots early in the history of Accor. It was created in 1974 by Accor’s founders Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson, seven years after Accor itself was founded in 1967, when its original hotel brand was Novotel. Dubrule turned 90 years old on July 6, but Pélisson died in 2023 at the age of 91.
The first Ibis property was in Bordeaux, France.
White said the Ibis brand family celebrated its 50th birthday with the signing of the 56-room Ibis Styles Reykjavik, a conversion of the Hotel Múli in the Icelandic capital. It is due to open in 2025.
“We’ve expanded into Iceland, our 80th country, with an Ibis Styles. We’ve moved into the Americas, into China. It is truly a global brand, which is one of its great appeals,” White said.
Though related to each other, how quickly the three brands grow will look different going forward, she said. In other words, they won't all grow at the same rate and development will happen opportunistically.
Other Ibis hotel openings are due are in Madrid, Lisbon and the Black Sea city of Batumi, Georgia, as Eastern Europe is a growth area for both Accor and the Ibis brands.
“Ibis is not about the destination per se, as it is with some of our other brands,” she said.
In the next five years, there will be more differentiation between the three Ibis brands, White said.
The original Ibis brand will continue its consistency of design and personality, while Ibis Budget will become more simplified.
“Ibis always has been consistent in its high quality. We work closely with owners on standards, culture and operating procedures, although we are going through the process of refreshing those, refreshing the brand to be modern,” she said.
She added more news on those tweaks will be released later in 2024.
“It still will be positioned to be the leader in the economy segment. That position will be grown via our established, professional partnerships, both multi-asset conglomerates and one-hotel family offices,” she said.
For Ibis Styles, there is no design-oriented “secret box,” White said, but rather a series of positive reactions to guest comments and desires.
She added the appeal of Ibis also grew because of its informality.
“You check in on a bar stool,” she said, adding that other hotel companies have followed suit with a more relaxed check-in setting.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," she said.
In 2019, Ibis shifted course a little with a push to energize its lobbies with entertainment and an edgier design via the launch of three room prototypes and a music and arts program.
For that, Accor collaborated with Sony Music United Kingdom’s 4th Floor Creative Group, Spotify and the Hungarian Sziget music festival.
That push with different sorts of partners will continue, White said.
“Ibis has a great partner in France, RockCorps, which in exchange for four hours of volunteer time provides free tickets for up to 15,000 people for music events at [the parent firm’s] Accor Arena in Paris. That will be just one of various community projects across France,” White said.