New Accor chain Jo & Joe targets young travellers
ACCORHOTELS PLANS to open a new chain called Jo&Joe in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia, aimed at young travellers, the group’s top executive said.
“Accor plans to open a total of 50 venues worldwide by 2020 in destinations popular with millennials,” Sebastien Bazin, Accor global chairman and chief executive officer, said while visiting Bangkok on Friday.
He added that the new brand reflected the group’s overall strategy, and was based on research and in-depth analysis into the aspirations of millennials – people who reached adulthood around the year 2000.
For Bangkok, the group is eyeing the Khao San, Charoen Krung and Ratchadaphisek areas for the first Jo&Joe property. Outside Thailand, the new brand is scheduled to launch in Paris and Bordeaux (in 2018) as well as Warsaw, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Australia.
Bazin said average room rates would start from 2,025 euros (Bt78,700) a night.
The new brand was created in consultation with its future guests and disrupts traditional codes with a new concept to offer private rental, hostel and hotel formats, he said.
Currently, Accor is the largest hotel operator in Thailand with a total of 68 properties and 15,877 rooms. The group is planning to establish 17 more hotels and more than 4,000 rooms here by 2019. One of these properties will be in the North, three in the East, eight in Bangkok, and five in the South.
Patrick Basset, chief operating officer for East and upper Southeast Asia, said the group managed six brands in Thailand: Sofitel, SO Sofitel, MGallery by Sofitel, Swissotel, Pullman and Grand Mercure. Thirteen of them are in Bangkok.
The group plans to increase the proportion of its revenue from the luxury segment globally from 19 per cent currently to 35 per cent.
“Several [other] new luxury hotels and brands are scheduled to debut in Bangkok. The increased competition will lead hotels to further refine their service and products to meet the needs and desires of customers,” he said.
“Competition can benefit both hotels and customers. However, hotels that can leverage a strong, large network such as AccorHotels will be at an advantage.
“Accor continues to explore opportunities for luxury and upscale hotels in Thailand and Bangkok,” he said.
Asked about the average daily room rate for luxury hotels in Bangkok when compared with other capital cities in this region, he said the ADR in Bangkok was higher than in Hanoi but generally lower than in other comparable capital cities in Southeast Asia, such as Kuala Lumpur. However, Bangkok also benefits from great number of visitor arrivals.
Regarding the termination of the management contract of its affiliate chain Swissotel with Swissotel Nai Lert Park at the end of this year, AccorHotels says it is working to secure new roles within the company for the 320 current employees of that Bangkok hotel.
