AccorHotels is debuting a new "Smart Room" concept designed to improve guestroom accessibility. Developed by the design solutions department of AccorHotels in association with designer Didier Versavel, the concept room is equipped with features that meet the needs not just of guests with reduced mobility, but all travelers.
Working in consultation with AccorHotels' employees with disabilities to create smart technical, technological and design solutions, the group's teams are reinterpreting accessibility standards to offer an accommodation experience that puts an end to the segmentation between "accessible rooms" designed for persons with reduced mobility and other rooms.
"With the Smart Room concept, our goal is to inspire the hotel market by introducing a new approach to the traditional [persons with reduced mobility] room, which is often unoccupied, not very welcoming and stigmatizing," Damien Perrot, SVP design solutions at AccorHotels, said in a statement. "We have envisioned a room for everyone, with design and creativity adhering to PRM standards and practices to the point that they disappear to the benefit of emotional and sensorial experience. This innovation can be tailored to all AccorHotels brands in all segments. It reflects the group's desire to pave the way toward positive hospitality and to respond to the concerns and requirements of all our guests."
Guestroom innovations such as these are a long time coming for a segment of travelers that has been underserved. Sized to accommodate up to three people, the Smart Room's features include:
- A connected tablet to adjust light and music (through a Devialet Phantomspeaker), close curtains, tilt the guestroom bed's headboard and control audiovisual equipment.
- A wardrobe with sliding shelves and rods for easy access to clothes.
- LED lighting with footboard motion sensor facilitating movement at night.
- A television positioned on a 180-degree swivel panel.
- A bathroom equipped with an adjustable showerhead, a folding and adjustable shower seat, a height-adjustable sink (70 centimeters to 90 centimeters, or 28 inches to 36 inches), designer grab bars doubling as towel rails and more.
- Sleep aids, including Dodow, a device that promotes both concentration and sleep, or Dreem, a headband with integrated brain energy sensors and a relaxation system.
- Customizable olfactory atmospheres with Sensorwake to create an awakening experience to the aromas of either coffee, tea or sea breeze, as well as shower capsules perfumed with essential oils created by Skinjay.