AccorHotels has reached its milestone 1000th hotel for Asia Pacific with the launch of Pullman Tokyo Tamachi, bringing the group to over 200,000 rooms in the region. Asia Pacific now represents over 30% of global rooms and 51% of the global pipeline, which is a strong sign that the company’s growth strategy continues to be focused on Asia.
“For the first half of 2018, 72% of global room openings for the group were in Asia Pacific,” said Michael Issenberg, CEO Asia-Pacific AccorHotels. “We currently open, on average, a new hotel in Asia Pacific every three days, but our goal is to move this to a new hotel every second day by 2020 and one hotel per day globally.”
Michael Issenberg went on to say that in the past three years, the Asia Pacific network has doubled in size, thanks to a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. The portfolio now includes some of the world’s most iconic and respected brands such as Raffles, Orient Express, Fairmont, Banyan Tree, Delano, Mondrian, SLS, Swissôtel, and Mövenpick. These acquisitions have been transformative for the company and will further cement AccorHotels’ position as a leader in luxury and lifestyle hotels. The recent addition of Mantra Hotels to the network also added a further 19,000 rooms to the region.
“China has been a powerhouse driving the APAC region to achieve this milestone, with fast and dynamic growth in the travel and hospitality industries,” said Gary Rosen, Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, AccorHotels Greater China. “The country’s number of hotels is a clear representation of our network in the Asia Pacific market. This 1000th hotel milestone will benefit China by showcasing brands and products that will bring exciting opportunities to guests as well as owners and developers. Our most recent acquisitions strengthen our position as an industry leader in China, particularly in the luxury and upscale segments. The acquisition completion of the Mövenpick brand in September has brought multiple Mövenpick hotels into AccorHotels China portfolio, including the newly opened Mövenpick Chifeng.”
In the first half of 2018, Asia Pacific saw robust rooms growth and revenue per available room (RevPar) up 5% (like for like). Michael Issenberg says that Asia Pacific will continue its rapid expansion as the group looks to transform its business model to become a full-service operator in travel, lifestyle and digital innovation.
“We are very excited about what the future holds and our world-class distribution platform as well as our preferred loyalty program Le Club AccorHotels will help ensure that we fully realise the enormous potential of the Asia Pacific; and specifically China tourism market,” Michael Issenberg said.
Global Chinese travellers have a lot to do with AccorHotels’ growth domestically and abroad. “China is now the number one outbound travel market in the world. In Asia Pacific, China contributed the largest share of tourists to Asia Pacific in 2016 with more than 50 million Chinese tourists traveling within the region,” Gary Rosen added. “AccorHotels has a strong and highly recognized portfolio of luxury and upscale brand options that cater to the different needs of today’s sophisticated travelers. This 1000th hotel milestone celebration highlights Pullman, which is a highly popular and fast growing brand in China. Pullman is one of AccorHotels contemporary upscale hotel brands tailor made for today’s global minded guests. With ten years’ development in the market, currently we have more than 33 Pullman branded hotels in Greater China, including landmark hotels in popular cities and superb leisure destinations such as Sanya, Lijiang, Shanghai and Hong Kong, plus double digit Pullman projects in the pipeline include openings in some key destinations from Zhoushan, Changbaishan to Suzhou and Baotou.”
The Pullman Tokyo Tamachi is the group’s 75th Pullman in Asia Pacific in only ten years. Having launched in Thailand in 2008, Pullman has become one of the group’s most successful brands with a network of more than 125 hotels globally.