Accor re-engineers Mercure brand for China

Accor has created ‘Mei Jue’, the company’s tailored Grand Mercure brand specifically for the Chinese market.

The brand was unveiled at the inauguration of Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, the first hotel adapted to the new positioning.

“Accor has tailored the Grand Mercure brand to better suit the Chinese clientele’s needs, in a strategic country for the group and in the context of a booming upscale domestic travel business,” asserted Grégoire Champetier, chief marketing officer, Accor.

“This brand is launched in the framework of our global project to modernise our brand portfolio. Our clients are now expecting brands capable of understanding the diversity and the complexity of their identity. With this tailor-made Grand Mercure, the Group demonstrates its ability to have more flexible brands that are locally relevant.”

Accor added that the new identity had been designed to appeal to upscale consumers and would be “as recognisable to Chinese guests as the Mercure hotel brand is to travellers around the world”.

Brand identifiers include personalised welcomes, daily Tai-chi sessions and local art.

Accor highlighted China as one of the pivotal engines of the global hospitality industry and one of the fastest developing areas in its global network. At present, Accor operates seven brands with 114 hotels in 47 cities across Greater China.

Sam Shih, chairman and COO Accor Greater China, said that throughout the company’s 27 years of operation in China, it had developed a strong understanding of the country’s hotel industry and the specific desires of the Chinese traveller.

“Accor has built upon this expertise in the development of the new Grand Mercure brand, tailored for China and providing a fresh yet familiar hotel experience for upscale travelers throughout the country,” he explained.

“The Grand Mercure brand provides Accor with a fresh platform for organic upscale network expansion throughout the country”.

Back in December, Accor president and COO Yann Caillere told Hotelier: "We thought we had enough brands, but in fact what we have discovered is the Chinese, the real Chinese living in China, want something better than the Mercure but very Chinese — a product between Pullman and Mercure.

“So what we’re going to do is to launch a Grand Mercure because they want something grand, but like Mercure in other ways, but with everything Chinese and Chinese food — this is a way for us to enter deeper into Chinese market.

“This is not something for us to do everywhere but where we see a big market, China, is contemplating a specific need we think we have to do it. The team is there and since we launched it, we are signing Grand Mercure quite fast,” he revealed.