On the 26th, AccorHotels announced that Accor and SBE plan to reopen the Mondrian Shoreditch London Hotel in London in the spring of 2021. The hotel will be the sixth Mondrian Hotel in the world. At the beginning of 2019, the Mondrian London Hotel, operated by London's South Bank, was renamed with new ownership, but at that time hotel partners were still optimistic about promoting the brand globally.
Mondrian's development model
When Accor announced its plan to establish an independent department for lifestyle hotels last month, the leaders of Accor also stated that the industry will be the group's main growth potential in the next few years.
Gaurav Bhushan, Chief Executive Officer of Accor Lifestyle, said: "Our lifestyle brand hotels, such as Mondrian in Shoreditch, will become a model of how to use the market and these brands will flourish. "
The Mondrian Hotel in London will have 120 rooms and will also include a rooftop lounge named Rumpus Room, chef Dani Garcia’s restaurant and the continuously operating Curtain Members Club.
Bhushan explained that innovative dining plans are not only the key to maintaining the Mondrian brand advantage. They are also critical to speeding up the hotel recovery timetable after the pandemic. While many borders are still closed, stronger food supply chains and beverage stores tend to attract local customers, thereby reducing dependence on international travelers. Our income is growing faster than that of ordinary hotels, because a large part of it is income from food and beverages.
Mondrian going global
In 2018, Accor Group acquired SBE for US$319 million. According to Chadi Farhat, Chief Operating Officer of SBE: “Ever since Accor invested in SBE, it has always been our important partner. Accor and we have seen future opportunities in market segments.”
Mondrian was originally a hotel group focused on the US market, with properties in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Later, it expanded to South Korea. In August this year, Mondrian Seoul Itaewon Hotel opened. It is expected that there will be 10 new Mondrian hotels open by 2022, and it may expand to 50 hotels in the next few years.
Since Accor invested in SBE, the Mondrian brand has been performing well. Accor also plans to achieve similar international growth for SBE's Delano brand, which is expected to open a resort in Sardinia, Italy in 2023. But the Delano brand is still a more independent existence of the two brands.
High-potential market segments
Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin pointed out in September that lifestyle hotels and the ultra-luxury industry are "high potential market segments." Having separate departments in these two areas is essential for Accor's further cooperation with other brands such as SBE and 25hours Hotels.
Although at present, lifestyle hotels may be only a smaller business area in the hotel industry, it is becoming more and more crowded. Just this year, InterContinental is also expanding its Voco brand hotels; Hyatt is also expanding its Thompson Hotels brand.
Bhushan pointed out that in the next few years, up to a quarter of Accor’s entire development process will be used for the opening of lifestyle hotels. According to investors last week, the company’s current total bookings are approximately 208,000 hotels. Room. Although he recognizes that there are competitors and the current hotel is still in a low-demand environment, he still believes that the current improvement strategy is essential to win new customers.
He explained: "This is not a short-term business. We hope that when the market picks up, we have prepared a new product in order to fully utilize the market."
