Accor, Europe’s largest hotelier,will open five Pullman hotels in China by 2010, part of plans to grow its three-month-old Pullman brand globally.

The Pullman brand, which was launched last December and targets mainly business travellers, will tap Asia’s fastest growing business travel and conference markets, Accor Asia Pacific Chairman Michael Issenberg said in the statement.

Accor said last May that it expected to double revenue from Asia in three or four years by ramping up a plan to expand across China, aiming to have as many as 160 hotels in operation or under development across the country by 2010, compared with 103 at that time.

The first Pullman hotel in China was opened in Dongguan, a city in southern Guangdong province, while another four will be opened in cities including Beijing and northern Tianjin.

Pullman derives its name from the opulent Pullman railway carriages that redefined overnight railway travel in the United States, and later in Europe in the 1860’s. They were started by George Pullman.

In 1867 Pullman introduced his first hotel on wheels, the President, a sleeper with an attached kitchen and dining car. The food rivaled the best restaurants of the day and the service was impeccable.

A year later in 1868, he launched the Delmonico, the world’s first sleeping car devoted to fine cuisine. The Delmonico menu was prepared by chefs from New York’s famed Delmonico’s Restaurant.

Traditionally, all Pullman head porters were called George in memory of the founder. There is no suggestion that this tradition will be followed in the hotels.
Source: Reuters

The Pullman Sanya Yalong Bay hotel opened on February 3, 2008. It faces the South China Sea. The hotel opened on February 3 and has 77 rooms and 115 villas (all with private swimming pools) and 9 adaptable meeting rooms. The hotel can host more than 800 people on the occasion of congresses or seminars, in particular with its Pacific Grand Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 350 people. Which makes it, beyond doubt, a MICE hotel.

Pullman is a new Novotel brand and the aim is that by 2009, the Pullman chain will offer 59 hotels (15,600 rooms) in 23 countries covering Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and South America. ooking forward, Pullman plans to build a global network of 300 hotels by 2015, with new hotels being added at the rate of 25 per year.

CEO Gilles Pélisson said, ‘Pullman will be one of fastest-growing brands of the Accor Group, especially in the Asia- Pacific region. The brand will expand rapidly this year, particularly in China. In 2009, we plan to open 18 hotels in the Asia-Pacific region, with the ultimate aim of around 100 Pullman hotels here.’

Novotel sees Pullman as a perfect fit with the Group’s overall portfolio, because its market positioning is complementary to the other non-standard brands of Sofitel, Mercure and All Seasons.
Source: eBlackboard

It is not easy being the PR for the French company hotel Accor. They have enough brands ranging from Ibis at the lower end (think high quality inexpensive) to the outright luxury end which is the Sofitel and that is moving up a fraction — not an easy trick — while Accor is positioning Pullman as an upscale hotel somewhere between the first-class hotel Sofitel and Novotel. The group aims to re-define the concept of business accommodation to make Pullman a dedicated place for living and corporate conferences.

At lunch a Novotel executive asked us — two journalists who have been working since there were wolves in Wales — if we had ever heard of Pullman. Ha!

The term Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were run by the Pullman Company (founded by George Pullman) in the United States. As a result (the PR person did not know this which makes one lament for modern education) every Pullman attendant thereafter was named George in his memory.

Indeed, in the splendid scene in the movie The Sting, where the card game is being manipulated on a Pullman, the organizer was the porter, name George. The real name of the actor has Larry Mann. (All of this is known because the writer used to work with one of the co-producers.)

Pullman did not keep up the insistence on staff nomenclature when the trains came to Europe. They were run by the Pullman Company or were lounge cars operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits.

Specifically, in Great Britain, Pullman refers to the lounge cars operated by the British Pullman Car Company. Of which the most famous example was the Brighton Belle between London and Brighton. Sir Laurence Olivier traveled on it every day. When they dropped kippers from the breakfast menu he wrote in mighty protest. So British Rail closed the line. British Rail was like that in those days.

Gilles Pelisson, the chief executive officer of Accor, undoubtedly knows all this which is why he is the boss. He said, ‘The idea of Pullman is to fill a position in the five-star sector that is left by moving Sofitel higher in the market. We are raising the Sofitel brand’s standards to what is called upper-upscale in Europe, and Pullman will fit into the five-star sector under Sofitel and ahead of Novotel.’

The phrase upper-upscale is, I think, one we can live without. Probably reads better in the original French.

Next year, Gilles Pellison said the Pullman network would have 45 hotels operating in 23 countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. By 2015, the company will have 250 Pullman hotels around the world.

In the Asia Pacific region, the Pullman brand will expand rapidly this year, with openings throughout Thailand and China. Further extensive development is planned throughout the region over the coming years, with an estimate of about 40 hotels in operation by 2010.

Note these are hotels not trains. A true Pullman train needs a smooth and well maintained track to work properly. In parts of Asia these are in short supply.

One idea to set the brand differently to the other competition is that Pullman will provide every client with a personal manager to take care of any problem around the clock. The company said, ‘Honesty and transparency are our testimony. The hotel wants to offer good value for money, so whatever a client pays, they will get double.’

Thus the concierge won’t be like George in The Sting. That George organized bent poker games.

The new name is Pullman. Accor is positioning Pullman as an upscale hotel somewhere between the first-class hotel Sofitel and Novotel. Think of Pullman as being designed for the upmarket business traveler and you have it about right.

Gilles Pelisson, CEO of Accor and seen here, said ‘The idea of Pullman is to fill a position in the five-star sector that is left by moving Sofitel higher in the market. We are raising the Sofitel brand’s standards to what is called upper-upscale in Europe, and Pullman will fit into the five-star sector under Sofitel and ahead of Novotel.’

In China the Pullman brand will expand rapidly this year and there should be about 40 hotels in operation in the Asian region by 2010.

Pullman tries to differentiate itself from rivals with technology like broadband access and a television set with built-in information systems. Which, in truth, does not seem that unique. But the customer also gets a personal manager to take care of any problem right around the clock.
Source: Hotel and Motel Management