Microsoft jumps into hospitality sector with Staff Hub, an agile, collaborative app for easy shift schedule management in hotels

Shanghai, China, October 20, 2016 /ChinaNewswire.com/ - Microsoft and AccorHotels presented Staff Hub at Microsoft experiences'16. This app will simplify employee shift schedule management for the world's leading hotel operator.

Staff Hub is the first collaborative application that allows hoteliers and their teams to manage their schedules completely on their mobile phones. It was developed using an agile method, after a field study conducted in close collaboration with the hotels' employees, and has been tested in Sofitel establishments in the United States and Dubai and at the Novotel Roissy Charles de Gaulle, in France.

AccorHotels intends to roll out of the application in its 26 digital plan pilot hotels before deploying it across its entire hotel network from the first semester of 2017.

AccorHotels has 240,000 employees in its hotel brands worldwide. 80% of them serve guests 24/7 and do not have a dedicated computer or a work email address. These deskless employees are, however, highly connected, since 90% have a personal smartphone. As part of its digital plan, AccorHotels wants to provide its employees with devices that will boost their performance and make their daily tasks easier. By engaging its employees in this way, it aims to foster a more personalized and authentic guest experience.

AccorHotels Global Chief Information Officer, Laurent Idrac commented, “With Staff Hub, AccorHotels and Microsoft are offering a very innovative service which is perfectly suited to the needs of deskless hotel employees. AccorHotels is bolstering the technological services it offers its employees, with a special focus on BYOD and a mobile-first approach.”

Jean-Louis Baffier, General Manager, Enterprise & Partner Group at Microsoft France said, “Designing StaffHub with AccorHotels was a particularly important project for Microsoft. It reflects our ability to assist our customers and co-construct innovative applications with them that are perfectly suited to their business needs. It also demonstrates just how agile Office 365 is. This collaborative platform can offer brand new services integrated in an environment that is already familiar to over 1.2 billion users worldwide.”

Staff Hub will be available in EASY (Employee AppStore for You), AccorHotels' soon-to-be-launched internal mobile app store. As well as Staff Hub, employees will be able to download other apps on their smartphones, including Yammer, the internal social network; Open Ideas, an internal collaborative innovation platform; and Voice of the Guest, the e-reputation management tool.

ABOUT MICROSOFT

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential through digital technologies. Established in 1983, Microsoft France employs 1,700 people and has been run by Vahé Torossian since July 2016.

ABOUT ACCORHOTELS

AccorHotels is a world-leading travel & lifestyle group and digital innovator offering unique experiences in more than 4,000 hotels, resorts and residences, as well as in over 2,500 of the finest private homes around the globe. Benefiting from dual expertise as an investor and operator through its HotelServices and HotelInvest divisions, AccorHotels operates in 95 countries. Its portfolio comprises internationally acclaimed luxury brands including Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel Legend,  SO Sofitel, Sofitel, onefinestay, MGallery by Sofitel, Pullman, and Swissôtel; as well as the popular midscale and boutique brands of Novotel, Mercure, Mama Shelter and Adagio; the in-demand economy brands including ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and the regional brands Grand Mercure, The Sebel and hotelF1.

With an unmatched collection of brands and rich history spanning close to five decades, AccorHotels, along with its global team of more than 240,000 dedicated women and men, has a purposeful and heartfelt mission: to make every guest Feel Welcome. Guests enjoy access to one of the world's most rewarding hotel loyalty programs – Le Club AccorHotels.

AccorHotels is active in its local communities and committed to sustainable development and solidarity through PLANET 21, a comprehensive program that brings together employees, guests and partners to drive sustainable growth.

Accor SA is publicly listed with shares trading on the Euronext Paris exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and the OTC marketplace (Code: ACRFY) in the United States.