Hotel group Accor has announced plans to grow its midscale Mercure brand to 75 UK properties.
Four British hotels are set to open as part of the Mercure portfolio in the next four months. Located in London, Scotland, Milton Keynes and Darlington, the new franchise agreements will add 394 rooms to the Mercure estate and create 120 jobs.
"We're committed to significantly growing our Mercure hotel portfolio by 2015 and this will largely be driven through our growing franchise development in the UK,"
commented Jonathan Sheard, managing director of operations, MGallery and Mercure Hotels UK and Ireland.
"By joining with our business, our franchise partners will be able to boost their hotels' existing exposure through the use of our brand name and benefit from our existing expertise, powerful global distribution networks and committed sales force."
First to open is the Mercure Darlington Kings hotel, which launched last week, followed closely by the Mercure London Greenwich hotel and the Mercure Eddleston Barony Castle hotel and Spa in Scotland later this month. The Mercure Milton Keynes Abbey Hill will launch in January 2013.
By Janie Manzoori-Stamford