 Accor Asia Pacific has unveiled ambitious plans to double the number of its existing hotel brands in the region by 2005. Driven by consistently strong returns in Asia compared to the rest of the world, the hotel management giant currently has 15 hotels under development with a focus on China, Thailand and Vietnam. Accor A/P chairman David Baffsky (left) discusses the initiative.
The performance of the group's hotels and resorts in Asia has outstripped other areas of the world, including Europe and the United States, a result that has spurred the group into action. "Despite the fact that the Asia Pacific region makes up only six per cent of global revenue for Accor, this region is performing proportionally better than anywhere else in the world," said Accor Asia Pacific chairman David Baffsky.
Thailand, Vietnam and China hold the greatest opportunities in the future for the global hotel management group, he added. "The brightest destinations in which we plan to expand more hotels are Thailand and Vietnam as they are well recognized, situated in good locations and people in both countries are always pleased to welcome us with their nice personalities. We are also able to work with those governments quite well in terms of exchange. They offer facilities for us to set up and run hotels, in return for which we are able to provide training and careers for people in those countries."
In Thailand, the group is very active, with the 454-room Sofitel Silom opening in November 2002. It will be followed by the 380-room Sofitel Sukhumvit aimed to open around the last quarter of 2005 and 200-room the Novotel Coralia Magic Lagoon in Phang Nga which will be opened partly 80 rooms in December 2002 and the re-opening with complete facilities in November 2003. In China, the group plans to take over the management of up to 100 hotels - up from 18 at present - within five years/by 2005.
Among the key properties to open by 2005 are the 325-room Sofitel Wanda Chengdu, the 370-room Sofitel Jinsui Shengyang (370 rooms), 250-room Novotel Nanjing.
To support the initiative the company will roll out the Accor Academy to train staff in key markets. Baffsky said one would open in 2003 in Beijing to serve the human resource issues surrounding the company's expansion in China. The training programme will focus on theoretical and practical study.
"Accor places great emphasis on staff training. The level of service needs to be appropriate to fit all different categories in the market," said Baffsky. "Business is still so price sensitive so you can't create expectations that you can't deliver." Accor currently has 197 hotels and resorts in 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
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