Accor has completed the purchase of the Mirvac Group’s hotel interests in Australia and New Zealand.
The deal will see the European hotel giant add a total of 43 hotels to its portfolio across Australia and New Zealand, and the majority of the Mirvac’s hotel employees will transfer to Accor.
While the majority of Mirvac’s hotels will remain under their existing brands – Quay West Suites & Resorts, Sea Temple, Sebel Hotels, Resorts & Residences and Citigate Hotels – in the short term, Accor said a major priority following the deal would be to rebrand a number of the hotels under its upscale Pullman brand.
In the first phase of integration, the Sydney Marriott Hotel will be rebranded as Pullman Sydney Hyde Park from today (22 May), while Sebel Newcastle Beach will become the Novotel Newcastle Beach in June.
“The settlement of this deal will fundamentally reshape the hotel industry in Australia and New Zealand,” said Michael Issenberg, Chief Operating Officer for Accor Asia Pacific.
“We have seen many of the original overseas players in the hotel sector retreat from this region in recent years while Accor has aggressively grown its network through management and franchise contracts and strategic acquisition deals such as the purchase of Mirvac’s hotels.
“We will be able to add significantly to the competitiveness of the Mirvac hotels once they are fully integrated into the Accor network. The benefits will come from access to our global distribution platform, strong branding, our pre-eminent position in the rapidly expanding Asian markets, and the support of the region’s most experienced and professional workforce,” he added.
Commenting on the expansion of the Pullman brand, Issenberg said Accor was planning to rebrand “a number of existing Mirvac hotels to Pullman”, as part of the overall aim to boost the Pullman portfolio to more than 150 hotels by 2015, including 60 in Asia Pacific.
Following the takeover of Mirvac’s hotels, Accor’s total portfolio in Australia and New Zealand will grow to 240 hotels, comprising 32,000 rooms.
Established in 1972, Mirvac is one of Australia’s largest hotel companies.
