Mercure Hotels

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Hotel Mercure in Potsdam (2017)

Mercure is an international hotel chain . It was founded in 1973 and taken over by the French Accor group two years later . In the 2015 financial year, 741 hotels with three to four stars belonged to Mercure. There are also 46 upscale hotels of the Grand Mercure brand. This makes Mercure the second most important Accor brand after Ibis . Most of the hotels are in Europe, with Grand Mercure's focus on the Asia-Pacific region .

history

The first Mercure hotel opened in Saint-Witz in the Val-d'Oise department in northern France. At the time of the takeover by Accor, the company was still called “Société d'investissement et d'exploitation hôteliers”, or SIEH for short. It was already active on the French market with hotels under the Novotel brand . After the first Ibis hotel opened in 1974 , Mercure developed into the third pillar of the group in the 1970s between Ibis and Novotel. Five years after it was founded, the Mercure hotel chain already comprised over 30 hotels in France alone. In the mid-1980s, the company expanded to Germany and other countries, including Austria. Accor positioned the hotel chain in the middle class for houses with three or four stars, which are aimed at both vacationers and business travelers. A key feature of the Mercure hotel chain since the 1980s has been the wine list.

At the end of the 1980s, the hotel chain had around 100 hotels worldwide, ten percent of which were in Germany. Despite the fierce competition among mid-range hotels, Mercure continued its expansion course. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the former Interhotels in Chemnitz, Dresden and Potsdam were leased . Additional locations were added in Eastern Europe, for example the first Mercure hotel opened in Warsaw in 1993 . In addition to new establishments, Mercure also took over existing locations from other chains: including, for example, the Pullman in Saarbrücken , which previously belonged to Accor, as well as the Holiday Inn in Koblenz and the Steigenberger in Passau . In the mid-1990s, Mercure revised its brand identity and, for the first time, invested in television advertising on a broad front. The campaign was later expanded to include other media under the motto “The Key to the City”.

In 2000 the 75th Mercure Hotel opened in Germany. The position in the market for mid-range hotels was notably strengthened primarily through a cooperation with the Baumhögger Group from Dortmund. As part of this, 27 new hotels in Germany with over 3,000 rooms came under the Mercure umbrella. After the Accor Group invested in the Dorint hotel chain in 2004 and took over the management of the German hotels, Mercure was positioned in the upscale sector. Individual hotels completely took over the Mercure brand, for example the Parkhotel in Bad Neuenahr or a hotel in Neu-Isenburg . In addition, over the years some hotels of the Novotel group have switched to Mercure, such as the house in Saarbrücken. For further expansion, Mercure relied increasingly on franchise partners , who already operated around a third of the hotels. From 2007 to 2010, 20 to 25 new houses were added every year in Germany.

Among other things, Mercure received international attention through the introduction of the Business Club for business travelers. In 2006, for example, this welcomed its two thousandth member in Austria. With the launch of the Grand Mercure brand for upscale hotels, Accor was particularly successful in Asia, for example in China and Vietnam. Since the competition among mid-range hotels remained high, Accor announced a relaunch of its core brand Mercure in 2013. In addition to updating the technology and modernizing the rooms, the lobbies of the houses , for example, were rebuilt. They became a central element of the brand as they were designed individually for each location. In 2013, Mercure had more than 730 hotels worldwide, with one new hotel opening on average every week.

characterization

Mercure Hotel am Wittenbergplatz in Berlin-Schöneberg (2017)

Most Mercure hotels are located in the city ​​center , near train stations or airports. They are regionally rooted, but have an international quality standard. This means that the appearance and layout of the houses are different, while the equipment and service are standardized. The furnishings correspond to the upper middle class, the majority of the houses have their own restaurant with local and international cuisine. There is often a hotel bar, and an extensive wine list ("Mercure Weinlese") is also typical of Mercure. The hotels of the Mercure brand usually have three or four stars , whereas Grand Mercure is a five-star hotel . While in the mid-2000s it was not allowed to smoke in around half of the rooms, Mercure was the first German hotel chain to introduce smoke-free establishments in 2006.

Web links

Commons : Mercure Hotels  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Joachim Friedl: A touch of the French lifestyle . In: Heilbronn voice . January 8, 2015, p. 31 .
  2. ^ Company information. In: Info meeting. Retrieved January 9, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Annual Report 2015. (PDF) Accor, p. 6 , accessed on March 20, 2017 (English).
  4. ↑ Florence Renard-Gourdon: SAGA Accor, un géant né en 1967. In: Les Échos. June 29, 2010, accessed January 9, 2017 (French).
  5. ↑ a b Accor . In: French Company Handbook . International Herald Tribune, Paris 1992, p. 14 (English).
  6. ↑ On the road to success for 30 years. In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper. December 4, 2004, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Guide to Hotel Brands in Europe . Martin Information, Croydon, Surrey 2001, pp. 126-128 (English).
  8. ↑ Mercure Group with eight new hotels . In: Handelsblatt . July 25, 1986, p. 6 .
  9. ↑ Hans Pleininger: The wine attracts guests to the Mercure Hotel . In: WirtschaftsBlatt . February 24, 1998, p. 4 .
  10. ↑ Mercure selects fine wines . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . June 1, 2013, p. 31 .
  11. ↑ a b Mercure Hotel wants to double capacity . In: Handelsblatt . September 18, 1990, p. 13 .
  12. ↑ Mercure Hotels . Before red numbers. Significant decline in revenue. In: Handelsblatt . September 27, 1994, p. 19 .
  13. ^ Bettina Seipp: What became of the hotels of socialism. In: The world. October 26, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2017 .
  14. ↑ What are the GDR Interhotels doing? (No longer available online.) In: Sächsische Zeitung. November 7, 2009, formerly in the original ; accessed on March 17, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sz-online.de  
  15. ↑ A pinch of France . Now also a Mercure in Warsaw. In: Handelsblatt . August 27, 1993, p. 5 .
  16. ^ "Pullman" now "Mercure" . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung . 18th December 1993.
  17. ↑ Egon M. Binder: The flag of the Mercure hotel chain now flies over the former Steigenberger Hotel . In: Passauer Neue Presse . September 21, 2000.
  18. ↑ From the hotel to the embassy . In: Marketing . July 10, 1995, p. 10 .
  19. ↑ Accor pushes hotel advertising . In: horizon . April 28, 1995, p. 6 .
  20. ↑ Mercure Hotels start campaign in Germany . In: horizon . May 7, 1998, p. 17 .
  21. ↑ Into the future with a new director and a new hotel chain name . In: Passauer Neue Presse . October 16, 2000.
  22. ↑ Heavyweight of the middle class . Accor hotel group strives for market leadership with Mercure. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . December 22, 1999, p. 15 .
  23. ↑ Roland Pimpl: Accor brand Mercure expands hotel portfolio . In: horizon . January 6, 2000, p. 18 .
  24. ↑ The Mercure chain grows by 27 hotels . In: Passauer Neue Presse . December 22, 1999.
  25. ↑ Dorint pushes renovation . In: fvw . February 6, 2004, p. 11 .
  26. ↑ Accor runs German Dorint Hotels. In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper. March 27, 2004, accessed March 20, 2017 .
  27. ↑ Accor gets premium brands on their toes . In: horizon . June 10, 2004, p. 19 .
  28. ^ "Mercure": The new name for the Dorint . Accor hotel group takes over Haus an der Ahr. In: Rhein-Zeitung . June 22, 2004.
  29. ↑ The Dorint is now becoming a Mercure Hotel . In: Frankfurter Neue Presse . February 3, 2005, p. 20 .
  30. ↑ Novotel is followed by Mercure . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . January 13, 2007, p. 35 .
  31. ↑ Mercure wants to grow to 200 houses . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . August 25, 2007, p. 9 .
  32. ↑ Nicolas Katzung: Mercure wants to increase hotel stock in Germany . In: Immobilien-Zeitung . August 20, 2007.
  33. ^ Accor / Mercure: 2000. Guest in the Business Club . In: Medianet . July 4, 2006, p. 6 .
  34. ↑ Dino Silvestre: Tailor-made hotel brand . In: Medianet . March 9, 2012, p. 53 .
  35. ^ Accor opens Grand Mercure . Hand of luxury to touch up Phu Quoc island. In: Vietnam Investment Review . No. 771 , 2006, p. 18 (English).
  36. ^ Hans-Jürgen Klesse: New concept for the middle-class brand Mercure. In: WirtschaftsWoche. July 1, 2013, accessed March 20, 2017 .
  37. ↑ Karin Gabler: Mercure steps on the gas . Relaunch: The Accor brand is redesigning its houses. In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . June 29, 2013, p. 7 .
  38. ↑ Michael Bornemann: Mercure is refreshed . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . September 20, 2014, p. 2 .
  39. ↑ Mercure: Accor accelère développement . In: Luxemburger Tageblatt . June 27, 2013 (French).
  40. ↑ Hans Thurn: conveying emotions . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . December 14, 2013, p. 13 .
  41. ↑ Our Brands & Services: Mercure. Accor, accessed March 21, 2017 .
  42. ^ Volkmar Pfaff: Editorial: 40 Years of Mercure Hotels . In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . December 14, 2013, p. 13 .
  43. ↑ About Mercure Weinlese. (No longer available online.) Vorlo, archived from the original on June 2, 2017 ; Retrieved April 26, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mercure-wine.de
  44. ↑ Our Brands & Services: Grand Mercure. Accor, accessed March 21, 2017 .
  45. ↑ Fresh air in the Mercure hotels . In: General hotel and restaurant newspaper . June 3, 2006, p. 7 .
  46. ↑ In Stuttgart and Munich, Mercure presents the first smoke-free German brand hotels. In: Dagusta magazine. June 24, 2006, accessed March 19, 2017 .