Accor has announced a full schedule of new hotel openings in 2021 in North & Central America and around the world, despite the challenges faced by the travel and hospitality sectors in 2020.
The Accor group focused on providing support and service to its owners, developers and partners in 2020, and maintained a steady pace of development while continuing to sign new projects.
“As we are all too familiar, 2020 had a profound impact on our day-to-day lives and the hospitality industry as a whole; even so, the early stages of a global rebound will be material and significant,” said Agnes Roquefort, global chief development officer, in a press release statement. “Despite the delays and temporary closures we experienced due to the pandemic, we continued to experience sustained momentum across our development pipeline and are optimistic that the worldwide rollout of COVID-19 vaccines will lead to renewed trust in travel and a much greater sense of personal safety for the entire global population.”
The lifestyle category is set to become one of Accor’s most active segments over the coming years, with the number of lifestyle hotel openings expected to triple by 2023. Accor’s lifestyle segment currently accounts for roughly five percent of the group’s annual revenue, but it represents 25 percent of the company’s development pipeline by value.
Accor’s recently announced joint venture with Ennismore is expected to close in Q2 2021, and will add new properties such as SLS Cancun Hotel & Residences; Mondrian Shoreditch London; JO&JOE Vienna Westbahnhof; SO/ Sotogrande Resort & Spa in southern Spain; SLS Dubai and 25hours Dubai.
The group’s luxury segment will see the opening of Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, along with Fairmont Windsor in England; Carton House, a Fairmont managed hotel in Dublin; Fairmont Ramla Riyadh; Fairmont Ambassador Seoul; and Fairmont Tagazhout Bay in Morocco.
Banyan Tree Doha will open in Qatar and new Raffles properties will debut in Udaipur and Jeddah. Sofitel will also open new properties in several new destinations including Seoul, Hangzhou, and Adelaide.
A list of notable 2021 openings is available here.
“For the past five years, Accor has experienced record-breaking growth across North & Central America, favorably positioning the group as the second largest operator of luxury hotels and the fastest growing operator of lifestyle hotels in the United States,” said Heather McCrory, CEO, Accor North & Central America, in a press release statement. “The pandemic slowed down our industry, there is no doubt, but there are still strategic opportunities for expansion through conversions and new developments, especially for brands that offer a differentiated, meaningful guest experience, backed by a company such as Accor with a strong loyalty program, powerful distribution and operating and franchising expertise.”
Conversion opportunities are expected to continue to drive growth through 2021 and beyond, with leading brands for conversion opportunities including The House of Originals (Luxury), MGallery (Upper Premium), Mövenpick (Premium), Grand Mercure (Premium), Mercure (Midscale), ibis Styles (Economy) and greet (Budget). These seven brands account for 43 percent of Accor’s opening pipeline over the next five years. For example, MGallery will welcome several new hotels in key gateway locations this year, including Orchard Hills Residences Singapore – MGallery, The Silveri Hong Kong – MGallery, and The Porter House Hotel – MGallery in Sydney, Australia.
Accor’s new properties will open in full compliance with the group’s ALLSAFE hygiene and cleanliness label, which gives guests the assurance of a third-party verified standard of hotel cleanliness and hygienic requirements. The standards were developed with and vetted by Bureau Veritas, a world leader in operational testing, inspections and certifications.
For more information visit accor.com.
