Accor, a famous hotelier, has recently signed an agreement with the British company Focus Hotels Ltd. concerning the opening of 10 hotels in the UK. This will add another 763 guestrooms to the portfolio of the hotelier in England. All hotels will be opened through a franchise agreement.
After the opening of these hotels Accor will have 43 properties under the Mercure flag in the UK. The total number of properties of this middle-range hotel brand overcomes 700.
As Jean-Jacques Dessors, the chief operating officer for the UK and Ireland, states, the company plans to open new hotels in England in all segments - budget, midscale and luxury ones. UK market is among the priorities of this company. Accor plans to have 300 hotels in this country by 2015, so collaboration with Focus is totally fitting as this company has 13 independent hotels in the UK, with all of them referring to midscale segment. Currently the company is eager to increase the quality of service in these hotels and wants to bring them to high standards, so all 10 hotels will become profitable. From this point of view Mercury brand is a good choice.
The new hotels include Mercure Chester North Hotel, Mercure Altrincham Bowden Hotel, Mercure Stafford South Penkridge Hotel, Mercure Hull Royal Hotel, Mercure Blackburn Ribble Valley Hotel, Mercure Telford Hotel, Mercure Swindon East Hotel & Spa, Mercure Hatfield Oak Hotel, Mercure Wigan Oak Hotel and Mercure hotel in Wolverhampton.