Mood rings were a major trend in the late 1970s. The accessory would change colors that were supposedly determined by the mood of the person wearing it. AccorHotels is such a fan of the concept, the hotel chain is applying it to the booking process.
On April 4, AccorHotels released its latest booking service, dubbed “MoodMatch.” Powered by tech startup Travelsify, MoodMatch aims to match user moods with appropriate hotels. Pairs rely on “Hotel DNA,” which is made up of Travelsify’s 34 key criteria formed by millions of travel reviews.
“With the launch of MoodMatch, AccorHotels once again proves its capacity to innovate and adapt to the new ways of searching for hotels,” says Bruno Chauvat, CEO at Travelsify.
“Nowadays, travelers aspire to unique travel experiences; with this new, user-friendly and fun way of finding their next destination by initially being led by their emotions and where the mood takes them, AccorHotels.com is providing a groundbreaking way of searching…which goes far beyond finding a hotel solely based on destination,” says Romain Roulleau, SVP, e-commerce and digital services for AccorHotels.
To access the MoodMatch search engine on AccorHotels.com, find the “Inspire Me” section in the “Find Your Hotel” tab. The site will then prompt you to fill out four categories that ask what the traveler is in the mood for, their preferred style, location and more. A few mood options include romantic, party and chilled-out.
Once these have been selected, the search engine provides a list of hotels, each with a percentage included. Percentages represent how closely the user’s mood matches with the corresponding hotel’s DNA. Hotels come from AccorHotels’ database of 4,100 hotels in 95 countries. The AccorHotels portfolio contains properties ranging from economy to luxury across brands such as Fairmont, Novotel, Mecure, Sofitel and Ibis.
Clearly the secret’s out—experience is the biggest incentive for the modern traveler. And customization is certainly a major part of creating a memorable experience. While AccorHotels is taking the booking process in an innovative and timely direction, one may wonder whether moods can be a bit too fickle to hold such weight in the booking process. We’ll have to wait and see if this trend takes off.
