The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the hospitality industry worldwide hit by lockdowns that preclude most from operating anywhere near normal levels of business. The reactions of most through necessity have been to mothball as best as possible to have a chance of emergence from the crisis.
For some however, as we have been tracking and reporting, it also presents an opportunity to acquire businesses, and acquisitions although few in some instances have been startling. The sale of The Ritz London being one example that surprised many.
Social media is in its own right and now more than ever a valuable media asset. The speed at which information is broadcasted, and its reach, is unsurpassed by more traditional media.
So, when we spotted a tweet this morning it prompted more research that led to what could be one of the hotel industry’s biggest rebrands by Accor.
What is today known worldwide as Accor rebranded to AccorHotels in 2015, then in February 2019 returned to its original name and revealed an updated logo, alongside a new loyalty program.
The new loyalty program at that time – Accor Live Limitless (ALL) – aimed to transform the brand’s rewards scheme through providing a fully integrated global platform for its customers.
The program integrated rewards, services and experiences for guests through marketing access to ‘ALL of Accor’, across their portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands. Fairmont, Raffles, Delano, SLS, Sofitel, and many others.
Yesterday it was discovered through domain name records that All.com had been sold to Accor for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of All.com was first mentioned by Jamie Zoch in a tweet yesterday. Jamie Zoch runs dotWeekly, a website that reports on domain acquisitions and provides ‘stealth domain acquisition’ services.
Like almost everything on the internet domain transactions are always visible despite the best efforts to mask them sometimes. The source of the tracing done by Jamie Zoch centres on the Whois Record for All.com.
The acquisition of All.com does make sense for Accor as they have used the subdomain – all.accor.com – to promote what looks like another rebrand of its loyalty program.
As pictured at the top of this page, on arrival at that subdomain visitors are greeted today with: “AccorHotels has become ALL – Accor Live Limitless.”
The acquisition of All.com enables a brand match domain that is almost perfect for marketing, and infinitely preferable to a subdomain.
In 2013 All.com was being offered for sale in the leading domain name brokering newsletter for $600,000, it will be interesting to see what it reached yesterday.
