[photopress:Accor_Logo.jpg,full,alignright]Accor said it has agreed to develop 62 new hotels in China, which, in addition to existing expansion plans, will bring its total network in the country to 180 by 2010 from 50 currently.
As part of this extra expansion, Accor will open three more hotels in Beijing before the 2008 Olympics, bringing the number of its hotels in the city to seven.
So who is Accor? You could put up an argument that it is the most varied, and possibly the largest, hotel grouping in the world. It was started in 1967 and has, moving from the top to the bottom of the de luxe scale, Sofitel, Novotel, the Mercure Network including Dorint, Libertel, Orbis Hotels, Parthenon Apartments and All Seasons, Ibis, Etap, Formule 1 and many other, lower profile chains located in the USA and in Canada including Motel 6 and Red Roof Inns.
All Seasons hotels are mainly in Australia, Dorint and Orbis in Central Europe, and Parthenon Apartments in Brazil. Accor also runs cooking schools, travel companies and casinos. If you travel and stay in hotels a lot you will undoubtedly at some point stay at an Accor establishment. They are ubiquitous.
Accor stressed its development in China will cover all segments of the market. It is easy for it to make that promise because it runs hotels in every segment of the market. At the top end there will be more 5 star Sofitel hotels.
In the economy segment, Accor said a further 50 Ibis hotels are either under construction or in advanced stages of planning.
The company said 2007 will be a record year for Accor hotel openings in China with over 20 hotels already launched. And in May that it will develop 40 Ibis hotels in China as part of an expansion program for the chain in Asia.
In June, the China Daily cited Accor China vice president Robert Murray as saying the group planned to open 80 hotels in China over the next two years.
Source: Forbes