Beyond Simone Biles going for gold and the opening ceremony, one of the most talked about aspects of the Summer Olympics in Paris is the athletes village — and one of the biggest hotel companies in the world is in charge of maintaining it all.
Paris-based Accor is a premium partner for the Olympics this year and manages both the athletes and media villages at the Summer Games. Combined, the two villages have 16,000 accommodations, and Accor has close to 800 people working to ensure everything from check-in and checkout to housekeeping goes off without a hitch. While Accor might be known for its wide-ranging brand lineup, including Raffles, Fairmont, Ibis and Novotel, the French hotel company is utilizing its hospitality prowess to keep the world’s best athletes in comfort.
“I’ve worked for this industry for many years, and I can tell you it’s probably one of the biggest operations I’ve had to manage,” Patrick Mendes, Accor’s CEO for Europe and North Africa, said this week in an interview with TPG.
Mendes, who was previously Accor’s CEO of Latin America and oversaw the company’s involvement in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, notes that the hotel giant’s current operation in its hometown is much larger. The athletes village comprises 71 buildings, while the media village encompasses 20. Those will eventually get redeveloped, but for now, they are an extension of Accor’s hospitality services through September.
“It’s a six-month operation but the equivalent of 150 hotels,” Mendes said.
Along with 16,000 bedrooms to clean throughout the games — delegations can decide whether to have housekeeping come every two days or every four days — Accor oversees 12 centers that act like a concierge service, providing everything from information about Paris to medical services and raved-about salon services for athletes.
It doesn’t appear athletes are complaining about the lack of daily housekeeping like, well, I would.
“Each delegation has specificities, and they don’t act the same way. They want to have some confidentiality on what they’re doing,” Mendes said. “They are also stressed by the competition. So, it’s a very different [kind of] guest.”
In terms of who works in the athletes village, about half of the staff members are people from a variety of professions who just want to contribute to the Summer Games. The other half are recruited as Accor staff who will then go on to one of the company’s many hotels in the region. Employees underwent three months of training in the lead-up to the Summer Games to be prepared for the rush of athletes. Afterward, plenty of opportunities in hospitality await in the vicinity.
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“We have 350 hotels in Paris, so it’s easy for us to find them a job,” Mendes said with a laugh.
While Accor doesn’t handle food-and-beverage service for the athletes, it oversees 100,000 breakfasts in the media village. Mendes said company leaders look to Accor’s midscale brands like Ibis, Mercure and Novotel to serve as the foundation for the level of service here.
While working the Summer Olympics might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some, it’s still grueling. On top of the day-to-day turnarounds of athletes coming and going, there are entire operational shifts.
“It’s high energy. They work for 15 days, very heavily every day, and afterward, they get to rest for 10 days before the Paralympics,” Mendes said, adding that workers still get days off during the Summer Games.
As the gymnastics events wrapped at Bercy Arena — better known as Accor Arena when the Summer Olympics aren’t taking place — the space was converted to host the basketball portion of the Games. But this also means tectonic shifts at the athletes village beyond usual housekeeping services and room turnover.
For starters, a 6-foot, 9-inch basketball player like LeBron James requires a little more legroom than Simone Biles, who is 4 feet, 8 inches tall. Accor’s team works at expanding those famous cardboard beds you’ve been seeing on social media, which debuted at the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021. Yes, they extend lengthwise to better accommodate taller athletes.
As to the comfort level of a cardboard bed?
“The fact is, honestly, I’ve tried them. It’s quite comfortable,” Mendes said with a smile. “I will say 95% of the guests are satisfied and say it’s good. It’s a good surprise.”
Let’s also not lose sight of what else is important: A cardboard bed is far more sustainable than a pile of metal-framed beds that go unused after the closing ceremony.
Olympic lessons
Athletes aren’t the only ones benefitting from the Accor ties at the Summer Olympics. Mendes noted there are a variety of operational lessons taking place thanks to managing the athletes village. For starters, laundry services for thousands of athletes make handling laundry at a convention hotel look like amateur hour.
For security reasons, bags aren’t opened when handling laundry. Instead, the entire bag is thrown in and returned to its owner thanks to a QR code on the outside. This is getting the gears turning on how to handle laundry services at a greater scale at Accor’s hotels. Further, the Olympic Committee’s electric car partnership with Toyota could be a model for future transportation services in cities where Accor has a hotel.
“It’s something we can learn, not only in hotels but how we can own the way we can manage big events in the future,” Mendes said.
Accor’s Club France
Points redemptions today are about more than just a stellar suite upgrade or award night. Instead, there’s pressure to provide one-of-a-kind experiences to loyalty program members. That’s why you see companies like Marriott offer Taylor Swift concert tickets to members. For Accor and its Accor Live Limitless members, that’s Club France — a viewing hub for fans to celebrate the Summer Games and celebrate French athlete victories. Heading into the Olympics, Accor anticipated 700,000 visitors, and while it’s too early to get a final tally, Mendes said there were many repeat visitors.
ALL members could redeem points and partake in athlete meet-and-greets, cocktails, food and other offerings from a wide range of Accor brands.
“Because it’s once in a lifetime, I have people coming twice, three times in the same week,” Mendes said.
While the flame hasn’t been snuffed out quite yet, many around the world are heralding the Paris Summer Olympics as one of the best in modern memory. Accor leaders are similarly elated by how well things have gone and are looking ahead.
“I’ve been contacted already to see if we can manage accommodations [and] manage villages like what we did with Club France,” Mendes said. “I think we’ve been looked at seriously because everybody’s saying it’s great.”
And that’s just tres chic.
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