Accor to open new Ibis Hotels in Korea, China and Hong Kong

Accor has begun a major expansion of its economy hotel brand, Ibis, with the launch of the first Ibis in South Korea this month.

The first Ibis in China – Ibis Tianjin – is scheduled to open by the end of the year, while in Hong Kong, the success of the Ibis Northpoint has prompted the construction of a new accommodation wing adjacent to the current hotel.

Accor’s decision to expand its economy hotel division in Asia Pacific recognises the changing travel patterns in the region. These include the emergence of a rapidly growing domestic travel market, the growth in intra-Asian business and leisure travel, and a worldwide move by corporations away from top-end accommodation in preference for mid-market and economy hotels.

The Hotel Ibis Seoul enjoys a premier location in the heart of Seoul’s Daechi-dong business district. Facilities include 317 rooms, two meeting rooms, bar and restaurant (La Table), gym, sauna, rooftop garden, coin laundry and undercover parking lot.

Ibis Seoul’s rates will be 82,500 won (US$70) for weekdays and 75,000 won (US$65) for weekends (10% tax excluded), which is considerably lower than other business hotels in the same area.

The launch of the ibis Seoul should now fill an important market niche for business, leisure and convention visitors seeking quality accommodation at a fair price. The Seoul convention and exhibition market has been held back because of the lack of internationally managed moderately priced hotels, so the launch of Ibis is expected to provide a major boost to this sector.

The Ibis should similarly fill another very important market niche, that of young Korean business men and professionals, who have been using lower categories of hotels in the past as their per diem allowance did not enable them to afford other higher-end international hotels.

The hotel’s rate and location should also attract strong weekend and holiday leisure visitors from provincial cities in Korea.

The first Ibis to open in China will be the Hotel Ibis Tianjin, which is scheduled to open at the end of the year. The Ibis is located in the newly established High Tech Economic Zone close to the industrial and manufacturing centre of Tianjin, 120km south east of Beijing. The area is host to numerous multi-national corporations and is expecting rapid economic growth over the rest of the decade. The 154-room Ibis will be the first internationally-branded economy hotel to open in the region.

Two more Ibis hotels in China have been announced – Hotel Ibis Chengdu (opening in the third quarter of 2004) in Sichuan Province and Hotel Ibis Qingdao (opening 2005).

The success of the Hotel Ibis North Point in Hong Kong has prompted the owners to expand the hotel by 64 rooms. The new wing is being built adjacent to the existing hotel and when the extension is completed in mid-2004 it will increase the hotel’s inventory to 274 rooms. The hotel has been trading at 84% average occupancy over the past quarter and with sustained growth in mainland Chinese travel predicted, the hotel is set to increase its market-share.

The expansion of the economy hotel sector in Asia follows Accor’s pioneering development of the sector in Europe, the UK, North America and Australia. More recently, Accor has successfully introduced its three-star Ibis brand in Indonesia, Hong Kong and New Zealand, and the two-star Formule 1 brand in Australia and Japan.

Over 2,500 of Accor’s total of 4,000 hotels are in the economy hotel sector and the group’s balanced hotel portfolio has been a principal reason for Accor outperforming its global hotel competitors (who rely more on upscale hotels) over the past few years.

Accor Asia Pacific Managing Director, Mr Michael Issenberg, said: “The largest growth in travel in Asia comes from inexperienced travellers who will be seeking quality international product at value for money rates. At present there are no other international brands operating in Asia that satisfy this market need, despite demand growing rapidly. Even those companies that have announced plans to follow Accor’s lead into the economy sector will take a number of years before they can unveil product of the quality of Ibis.

“The volatility of world political and economic conditions has also changed the hotel market in Asia. Most international companies that have entered the Asian hotel sector have concentrated on the higher end of the market and largely relied on international business. However, as we have seen in the years following the 1997 economic meltdown and subsequent political and medical crises, international business can dry up almost overnight, where as economy and budget hotels are far more resilient because they target domestic and regional travellers.”