Accor’s growth in Northern Europe is confirmed with the announcement of 15 new contracts in the first half of 2019; including seven in the UK, five in Belgium, two in Denmark and one in the Netherlands. The new agreements thus add more than 2,000 rooms to Accor’s Benelux portfolio. The new hotel in the Netherlands is the 70-room ibis Styles hotel in Almere. It is located in a former office building and will be run by a new franchise partner. This is the first hotel opened by the Accor Group in Almere, in a prime location between Almere city center and the highway to Amsterdam.
The contracts in Belgium include a small portfolio of three hotels that will be repositioned as Mercure hotels under a franchise agreement. Together, these hotels add more than 500 rooms to the Benelux network that will be integrated into the Accor portfolio by the end of 2019. The Leopold Antwerp City Center hotel recently became the first to join the Mercure network and will be followed by two additional hotels at the end of this year: one in Antwerp and the other in Liege.
“The repositioning of these three hotels into Mercure hotels is an integral part of our business plan, which allows the hotels to benefit from the strong Accor brand and distribution in the Benelux,” said Frank Croston, Partner at Hamilton Hotel Partners. “We have major renovations planned for these three hotels and have chosen Accor’s Mercure brand to safeguard the local culture of Antwerp and Liege while offering our guests a recognized international level of service.”
Ibis Styles
The two additional contracts in Belgium include an 88-bedroom ibis Styles franchise in Namur and the ibis Brussel Centre Chatelain, a 62-room hotel in the city center. The ibis Brussels Centre Chatelain will also be the first ibis hotel in Northern Europe to open with the new ibis Plaza concept in the bedrooms, designed by Brazilian designer Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz of the architectural firm FGMF.
Phillip Lassman, Vice President of Development, Accor Northern Europe explains: “It was a busy first half of the year as we continued to welcome new brands and partners to the Accor network. Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles remain popular choices for owners, operators and management companies who like to work with recognized, international brands that offer a high level of service with the feel of a local hotel. We are especially excited to announce the new portfolio in Belgium and look forward to working closely with the owners to reposition the hotels to Mercure.”
Thomas Dubaere, COO, Accor Northern Europe said, “Our brand portfolio ranges from luxury to economy and lifestyle to aparthotel, offering prospective owners a wide and unique choice. This creates many development opportunities in the region and has led to these new contracts. Our customers want more than just a hotel and our increased guest-friendly approach ensures that we create multifunctional facilities that can be used not only by travelers, but also by people who live and work near the hotels. We expect the second half of 2019 to be successful as well and look forward to welcoming even more owners to our network.”
foro: Ibis Styles Belgium, no image yet Almere
