Accor’s lifestyle hotels to change the entertainment landscape

Lifestyle hotels are gaining in popularity, with Accor set to roll out several venues featuring food, beverage and entertainment as a major drawcard. 

“Australia is still a young market for us, but we see huge growth potential,” co-chief executive of its joint-venture Ennismore group Gaurav Bhushan told The Australian Financial Review.

Accor will launch the hotels throughout Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re working on a whole bunch [of deals] and building the pipeline rapidly. There’s a lot going on,” Bhushan, who with Ennismore founder Sharan Pasricha, manages a portfolio of next-generation brands including 25hours, Hyde, Gleneagles, Hoxton, Jo&Joe, Mama Shelter, Mondrian, So and Tribe.

In the pipeline are four New Zealand hotels including a Jo&Joe and two Tribe hotels in Auckland and a Hyde in Queenstown.

These complement So Melbourne, Mondrian Gold Coast and 25hours Sydney hotels which are expected to open between 2023 and 2025.

140 more hotels will be developed or converted and will be restaurant and nightlife destinations.

Next year, Ennismore will open a 105-room 25hours hotel at the site of the former Grand Pacific Blue Room nightclub in Oxford Street Paddington. It will feature a rooftop bar, restaurant, cafe and live entertainment facilities.

“A lifestyle hotel from our perspective is about trying to build a destination and is not just focused on the traveller,” Bhushan told the AFR.

“The focus is on the bar and restaurant and building a local community hub. We build hotels for what the local market wants. It’s not a cookie cutter model. Each location is different.

“Sometimes the best location is not the centre of the city. We like neighbourhood hotels in high residential density areas, where we can attract locals and travellers.”

Ennismore has done well for itself post pandemic.

“The vast majority are operating at pre-pandemic or above pre-pandemic levels. Our bars and restaurants returned to these levels last year,” Bhushan said.

The bounce back, which is different to what traditional hotels are seeing is attracting investors and developers.

“Half of our revenue comes from our bars and restaurants. Other hotel operators don’t focus that much on that part of the business but on the room part,” Bhushan said.

The move by Ennismore is in conjunction with co-owner Accor’s brand expansion in Australia.

Irit Jackson, 17^th August 2022