EXCLUSIVE:Accor unveils Majlis Grand Mercure brand

Accor has unveiled a new upscale brand, Majlis Grand Mercure, which is designed to offer Middle East investors the opportunity to develop a localised Arabic inspired brand with the backing of an international hotel chain.

The brand is tailor-made to the needs of Middle East consumers, but also aims to reach overseas visitors looking for local culture.

Accor Hotel Services Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa CEO Jean-Jacques Dessors said: “It was a need to create a specific brand for this region, not only for this region, it comes from the experience we have had in China, where we developed a brand called Mei Jue Grand Mercure. This brand is very successful in answering to requirements of the region, owners and clients”.

Building on the expertise gained in China, Accor developed Majlis Grand Mercure around four key pillars: a sense of welcome, a sense of food, sense of wellbeing and sense of culture and discovery.

The creation of the brand was lead by Accor Middle East managing director Christophe Landais, who said: “We try to have a traditional welcome, the Arabic coffee, the dates, the uniform as well will be much more traditional. In the F&B, the offer will be much more regional, Lebanese, Arab, from Egypt, a mixture of three local [cuisines]. Another pillar is wellness, a key element in the Arab tradition, the wellness, massage, hammam, all these kind of elements will be developed; the fourth pillar is the local cultural aspect — where every hotel is located there is something to see, something to discover, and that will be the four pillars we will bring.

"We have just signed the first hotel in Madinat in January this year and this hotel is extremely well located overlooking the Madinat. It’s definitely on the upscale five star level, but no brand could fit that hotel, so Majlis was really the perfect fit for that property,” said Landais.

The first Grand Mercure Majlis is now operating in Madinah, the Majlis Grand Mercure Al Harithia.

Targeted locations for the brand are Cairo, Madinah, Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Makkah, with negotiations currently underway in Doha revealed Landais.

Accor has set a target for 20 hotels under the Grand Mercure Majlis brand to cover key cities.

In China, Mei Jui Grand Mercure, which launched in 2011, already has 13 hotels in operation and Accor plans to reach 65 hotels across the entire Grand Mercure network by 2015.