Accor takes fight to Airbnb with Travel Keys deal

Hotel giant Accor – the largest operator in Australia – has beefed up its luxury holiday home rental business by acquiring Atlanta-based Travel Keys, a company that manages more than 5000 villas in the Caribbean, Mexico, the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.
           

It is the third acquisition in the luxury serviced home market by Accor in less than a year after it paid $US168 million for London-based start-up Onefinestay in April last year, which offers a portfolio of more than 2600 luxury properties in London, Paris, Rome, New York and Los Angeles.

A year ago, Accor acquired a 49 per cent stake in Squarebreak, a digital platform offering private upscale properties in resort locations, primarily in France, Spain and Morocco.

Combined the three businesses will allow Accor to offer accommodation across 8500 addresses in the luxury private rental market.

"Travel Keys brings an impressive portfolio of premium properties to our existing activities. This acquisition further demonstrates our agility and dynamic approach to offer comprehensive services to our clients," said Sebastien Bazin, chairman and chief executive of AccorHotels.

Airbnb started out as a place for people to rent out a spare room in their homes, but has morphed more recently into a commercial-style accommodation platform where people rent entire homes, villas and apartments.

Its growing dominance of the informal or "shadow" accommodation market has sparked a string of new disruptive online start-ups looking to match its success, forcing hotel companies to adapt and disrupt themselves, or lose market share.

Accor has sought to differentiate itself from Airbnb's highly diverse offering by focusing on the luxury serviced holiday home market where properties are carefully chosen and offered with hotel-style trimmings.

Travel Keys was founded in 1991 and includes 24/7 concierge services. CEO Bobby Gibson said the company's objective was to offer "extraordinary experiences" to its guests, "that is the best homes in the best locations with the highest level of service".

The price Accor will pay For Travel Keys was not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 after customary due diligence.