More than 9,000 rooms and 21 new hotels for Accor in 2020

Accor is going from strength to strength in its Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea division, having officially signed 9,243 rooms room across 12 countries in 2020.

This includes Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, the lattermost leading the way with 12 hotels.

New builds include the Sofitel Hanoi EcoPark Resort & Spa & Sofitel Residences EcoPark Hanoi, Vietnam; Swissotel Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia; Pullman Okinawa Urasoe, Japan; Hyde Resort Hoi An Hotel & Residences; and Mondrian Residences Hoi An.

“Pipeline growth is the foundation of our success and I am excited by the quantity of projects being signed, but more importantly, by the quality of the hotels and resorts being delivered, which gives me great confidence that the future of travel is very bright," said Garth Simmons, CEO Accor SE Asia, Japan & South Korea.

Apart from the entry of new lifestyle brands, Accor's focus for this region is the luxury and premium hotels sector — which took up one third of the signings.

Flagship hotels include projects across the Fairmont, Pullman, Swissotel and Sofitel brands. In addition, Accor will introduce new brands to the region including Rixos all-inclusive resorts, Tribe boutique lifestyle hotels, and Hyde premium lifestyle hotels and resorts.

“The fact that our development team can continue to deliver great signings in the midst of the worst crisis the travel industry has ever seen, shows that owners have confidence in the long-term future of tourism and that our world-class brands, powerful distribution platforms and all lifestyle loyalty programme continue to drive value for our owners and guests as the industry recovers,” added Simmons.

“While this past year has been tough, the longer this crisis continues, the larger the appetite for travel grows and we are convinced that when people can travel again, there will be huge demand."

Growth despite Covid pains

On a global scale, Accor opened 81 hotels in 2020, translating to 290,000 rooms. Of these, 15% were in Southeast Asia — which continues to be the strongest region in terms of branded residence projects.

Some key openings included the Raffles Bali, Indonesia; Mondrian Seoul Itaewon, South Korea; Pullman Khao Lake Resort, Thailand; Pullman Phu Quoc Beach Resort, Vietnam; MGallery Hotel Perle D’Orient Cat Ba, Vietnam; and Mercure Kyoto Station, Japan.

“Travellers are increasingly going to be looking for new experiences and new destinations to discover and our resorts in Thailand and Vietnam certainly fit the bill," said Andrew Langdon, SVP development Accor SE Asia, Japan & South Korea.

Accor is forecasting to open 31 hotels in 2021, and has thus far launched the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul, South Korea; Pullman Khao Lak Resort; and Ibis Budget Singapore Clarke Quay. Southeast Asia is expected to lead the way in terms of growth with 150 projects in the pipeline.