Accor accelerates its expansion in Russia

Accors brand of midscale hotel, Mercure, has opened its first hotel in Russia. The Mercure Arbat Moscow, which is owned by ARD, is operated by Accor under a management contract. The hotel is ideally located in the city’s historic district in a pedestrian street famous for its artists’ workshops, boutiques, cafés and restaurants. It has 109 rooms, including 18 Privilege rooms and four Suites. The hotel has a restaurant, “La Promenade”, which serves Franco-Russian dishes; a bar; a fitness center and meeting rooms. All of the hotel’s rooms have free Wi-Fi and tea and coffee making facilities. The Mercure Arbat Moscow is Accor’s twelfth hotel in Russia. The group has been in Russia since 1992 and is now among the top five hotel Group in the Russian market. Accor intends to continue and step up its expansion in the coming years. For the Mercure brand alone, it plans to open two other Mercure hotels in Russia by the end of the year, including one in Sochi, host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The introduction of the Mercure brand of non-standardized hotels will enable Accor to accelerate its expansion in this country. Accor intends to have a network of 50 hotels (nearly 10,000 rooms) by 2016 in the Russia-CIS region. The group currently has 14 hotels (3,500 rooms) in the region in Russia, Ukraine and Turkmenistan. It plans to expand into new countries, notably Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. The Sofitel, Novotel, ibis and now Mercure brands are already established in the region and the group also plans to launch Pullman and Adagio there in 2013 and 2014 respectively. “The opening of the Mercure Arbat Moscow represents an important step in our expansion in Russia,” explains Yann Caillère, Accor’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Thanks to our strong brands and distribution network, we are ideally positioned to seize the growth opportunities in this market where demand is growing considerably, particularly in the midscale and economy segments.”