AccorHotels is the latest hotel chain to make a concerted effort to curry favor with Millennial travelers. By 2020, the company will roll out 50 new hotels under a new brand named JO&JOE, described as follows:

JO&JOE is a vibrant living space, a home that is open to the external world and designed to meet the expectations of Millennials and all those who value sharing, spontaneity and experience. JO&JOE rounds out the Group’s economy-brand portfolio, providing a made-to-measure solution for the vast international community of Millennial-minded trend-setters revolutionizing the market.

What are the expectations of Millennials? The buzzwords, according to Accor, include “lifestyle,” “innovative,” “open,” and “interaction.” In practice, those concepts apparently translate as follows:

• “The bar is central to the JO&JOE social experience.” Local and craft beverages should will be featured.
• Local, affordable “craft cuisine” in the hotel restaurants.
• “Collaborative kitchens,” where guests can prepare their own meals.
• A “Happy House” area, where guests “can relax, work, cook or wash their clothes, just like at home.”
• “An ingenious modular sleeping area that guests share without sacrificing privacy.”
• Other rooms modeled after yurts and caravans.
• Rates starting at 25 Euros a night.

If low rates, intelligent food offerings, and non-cookie-cutter rooms are the future of hotels, then I’m all in.

Thanks, Millennials!

Reader Reality Check

Good, or just gimmicky?

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and almost that long writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

This article first appeared on SmarterTravel.com, where Tim is Editor-at-Large.