AccorHotels has revealed plans for its first “vertical dual hotel”, with a new tower in Australia featuring a Novotel sitting on top of an ibis.
Scheduled to open in central Melbourne in late 2018, the new 36-storey development will include a total of 483 rooms. The ibis Melbourne Little Lonsdale Street will comprise the lower part of the tower with 270 rooms, while Novotel Melbourne Little Lonsdale Street will lie on top, with 213 rooms and suites.
Between the two hotels will sit a series of shared facilities, including a lobby, two F&B outlets, a gym and 10 meeting rooms.
“This is a significant, first-of-its-kind development for Melbourne and AccorHotels,” said AccorHotels’ chief operating officer for the Pacific, Simon McGrath. “While dual-branded hotels are not new and we have many examples of those, it’s certainly a global first for us to open two hotels that are scaled in a vertical integration.
“With development real estate in CBD locations becoming increasingly sparse and with construction costs soaring, it makes perfect sense to literally scale up and maximise the investment across a number of brands and price points.
“The hotels will be able to share back of house facilities from kitchen to engineering, common areas and even staff in housekeeping and finance resulting in greater efficiencies, but importantly, each property will maintain its brand integrity, standards and product experience,” he added.
Novotel and ibis Melbourne Little Lonsdale Street will expand AccorHotels’ presence in central Melbourne to more than 25 hotels and 3,600 rooms.
AccorHotels already operates co-branded hotels in Melbourne (Pullman and Mercure), Brisbane (Pullman and Mercure & Mercure and ibis) and Sydney (two Novotel and ibis developments). It is also planning to launch a dual Pullman and ibis property at Brisbane Airport in September 2017.
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