The inauguration of the Sofitel Shanghai North Bund marks an important moment for the Accor group. Firstly, because it is part of the celebration of the 60e birthday the brand's new dynamic. This hotel, with 288 rooms and 27 elegant suites, embodies the brand's reaffirmed luxury through a contemporary atmosphere blended with retro touches inspired by French aesthetics. Overlooking the Huangpu River, the Sofitel Shanghai North Bund is also a popular venue for events and meetings, with a large 420 m² modular ballroom and other meeting rooms.
But, above all, this facility enables the Group toreach the 700 hotels mark in Greater China. " An important step "according to Gary Rosen, Accor's Managing Director for the region. At a time when the French group is moving at a brisk pace, opening more than one hotel a week on average over the last two years, this new milestone gave the hotel group the opportunity to look back at its recent past and its future plans in this key market.
Over the past two years, Accor has taken a number of major steps forward with a fiftieth hotel for both Pullman and NovotelThese include the debut of Mövenpick in Qingdao, the lifestyle brand Mondrian in Hong Kong and the opening of the luxurious Raffles at Galaxy Macau. Or the revival of a major business hotel in Beijing after three years of renovation, the Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong and Macau Center, one of the doyens of international chain hotels in the Chinese capital and a key stop-off point during the 2008 Olympic Games.
This pace of expansion is not about to slow down, with the Group concluding 150 new projects last year and set to exceed this figure again in 2024. In parallel, 103 openings planned by the end of the yearThese include the Fairmont Xiamen, Pullman Taizhou and Chongqing, Grand Mercure Wuhan and Changzhou and Novotel Nanjing and Wuxi. At the same time, MGallery, which recently opened two hotels in Hong Kong, will be adding five new destinations to its offering. Accor is also preparing for the debut of two new brands in China in 2025, with an aparthotel in Shanghai and an aparthotel in Beijing. Adagio in Chengdu and a Tribe hotel in Guiyang.
" Accor continues to contribute to the development of the Chinese hotel industry, with creativity and commitment, and by concluding partnerships that carry an ambitious vision and enable new projects to become a reality." said Gary Rosen. The key to this success lies in close relationships with key players in the Chinese hotel industry, including Huazhua company in which Accor was once a shareholder and which has developed more than 500 hotels under the Novotel, ibis and Mercure brands as part of a master franchise agreement signed in 2014.
Other partnerships have been added more recently, notably in 2022 with the Sunmei group for the massive roll-out of the Mövenpick brand throughout China. Although 400 establishments were mentioned when the partnership was signed, this expansion has already materialised with a first address last year in Qingdao in 2023 and four to come this year in Nanjing, Xuzhou, Chengdu and Suzhou. Jo&Joe's new-generation youth hostels are also expecting to make a name for themselves. a great leap forward in association with Funyard Hotels & Resorts. Here too, the figures announced are staggering, with more than 1,000 hotels on the horizon, including several in the coming months.
In addition to these developments, the French group is also involved in the future of the Chinese hotel industry by being a player in its own decarbonisation. And it has done so by joining forces with China's largest hotel group, Jin Jiang Hotels, to introduce CSR measures and other initiatives aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. The fact that Jin Jiang, the world's second largest groupis also a shareholder in Accor with a 9.6 % stake, in addition to presiding over the destinies of Radisson and Louvre Hotels, is undoubtedly a factor in this rapprochement, with Accor sharing its best practices to accelerate the energy transition in the Chinese hotel industry. Other examples include a partnership with OTA Trip.com to launch an application enabling travellers to choose the 'Low Carbon Stay' option, and the signing of an agreement with the Chinese Hotel Association to obtain Green Hotel certification for all the French group's hotels in the country. A total of 700 establishments since the opening of the Sofitel Shanghai North Bund.
