Accor buys stake in boutique hotel brand 25hours
The Hamburg-headquartered group currently operates seven design-led hotels in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Zurich, Berlin and Vienna.
Accor will assist the brand in growing worldwide, with a further five sites set to open in Zurich, Munich, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Paris in the next two years.
Hotels are also planned for long-haul destinations such as Melbourne, Miami and Milan.
Taking on Airbnb
It follows the launch of Accor’s millennial-targeted brand Jo&Joe in September, offering guests yoga classes, concerts and community-style living.
Competition from room sharing sites such as Airbnb has seen hotel giants increasingly court the attention of Generation Y, who are expected to dominate the business traveller market by 2020.
Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, said the company was impressed by 25hours’ appeal to young, urban travellers.
“Through this partnership, AccorHotels is investing further in one of the fastest growing segments in the industry and enriching its offer to achieve scale in this segment,” he said.
“Today, we are going one step further in our strategy to be a global leader in lifestyle hotels.”
Christoph Hoffmann, who will remain as CEO of 25hours after the deal, said the German company could ‘conquer the world’ with its new partner.
“Designing appealing hotels with exciting concepts is not enough,” he said.
“A country network with local experience and expertise is also needed. Thanks to AccorHotels’ longstanding know-how and worldwide support infrastructure, this is precisely what we now have on every continent.”
The deal follows a string of acquisitions by Accor, including its £1.9bn purchase of FRHI Hotels & Resorts in July and its takeover of home rental service Onefinestay in April.
