Accor will retain the All Seasons name in Australia but will seek to improve the positioning of the brand in the corporate market. Accor has identified four hotels – All Seasons Premier Menzies and All Seasons Darling Harbour in Sydney, and All Seasons Grand and All Seasons Premier Swanston in Melbourne – as ripe for promotion to business travellers. Earlier this year, Accor – the region’s largest hotel group – acquired the All Seasons hotel management company from listed hotel property group Thakral in a deal worth A$29 million. “All Seasons has a clean, clear name, with a very strong position in the domestic and inbound lesiure markets. It just needs some support and more aggressive positioning to the corporate market,” said Ray Stone, Accor Asia Pacific general manager of sales and marketing, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific and Japan. “The four hotels we have nominated in Sydney and Melbourne are extremely well located and we expect them to be successful in the corporate market.” Stone said that Accor faced a more challenging time in 2001, especially in Sydney post–Olympics, although the flow–on benefits from the Olympics exposure aligned to Accor’s international network would ensure that the French–owned group would continue to do well. Accor launched a new website on April 18, the day it introduced Novotel Adelaide, formerly the Hindley Park Royal. “The Adelaide property means that we are the first international brand to have a mainland Australia capital city network,” said Stone. Novotel, he added, was now the leading four star brand in Australia while other Accor brands such as Sofitel, Mercure and Ibis was also performing strongly. “Sofitel is doing extremely well in Melbourne – now a Sofitel in Sydney is a priority and we are looking at a couple of projects. “Since opening a Mercure in Sydney and Melbourne, that brand has been given a major boost. We will continue to look at ways and means of developing that brand.” Accor was becoming more brand specific, Stone added. “Ultimately, though, brands are only meaningful is they are useful to the consumer.” Outside of Australia, Accor says that Novotel Auckland was doing well although another New Zealand property, Novotel Quuenstown, had a difficult time last year due to oversupply in the market but was responding strongly. In Japan, a major renovation of the Tokyo Sofitel would see it open in the first week of September as an 81–room boutique hotel. “Sofitel will be second to none in Tokyo – it’s a major strategic renovation for us,” Stone added.