CONTINUING
ITS EXPANSION in Asia, Accor last week opened the 386-room
Grand Sukhumvit by Sofitel in Bangkok. With this opening, Accor now
manages 48 Sofitel-branded hotels in Asia; another 20 Sofitels are
scheduled to open in the region by 2008. The Grand Sukhumvit
consists of two towers near the Nana BTS Skytrain station and the
Queen Sirikit Convention Center. Targeting business and leisure
guests, the property includes 241 suites with fully equipped
pantries. All rooms feature work areas, cable TV and Internet
access. Facilities include a spa and fitness center, a swimming
pool, seven meetings rooms, a business center, a 24-hour
restaurant, a deli and two bars. The hotel is marketing an opening
rate of $84 a night with breakfast through Oct. 15. Visit www.accorhotels.com/asia.
ACCOR,
MEANWHILE, joined China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club
frequent flyer program, with members eligible for mileage points
when staying at any Accor property worldwide. Accor has some 34
hotels in China across its brands, including Sofitel, Mercure,
Grand Mercure, Ibis and Novotel. China Southern flies to more than
80 cities in China and overseas.
THE
AUSTRALIAN HOTEL CHAIN Metro Hotels is offering travel
agents and other industry professionals preferred rates in May and
June. Metro Hotels, which describes itself as the countrys oldest
Australian-owned hotel company, offers a range of hotel, apartment
and inn-style accommodations, with a total of 11 centrally located
properties in major cities throughout Australia, including Sydney,
Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. The Metro Hotel City Central, for
example, is marketing a rate of $105 a night. For information or
reservations, visit www.metrohotels.com.au or e-mail [email protected].
MOBISSIMO, the travel search engine,
launched a Web site targeting customers in India at www.mobissimo.in. The
site performs comparative searches for air, car, hotel and
activities on the Web sites of online agencies like Orbitz and
MakeMyTrip, as well as domestic and foreign airlines with business
in India. Mobissimo said this is the first such product to focus
exclusively on India.
HILTON
HOTELS CORP. agreed to manage a hotel in Hefei, China. The
26-story, 566-room Hilton Hefei is scheduled to open later this
year. The property will feature eight eateries, a spa and fitness
center and meetings facilities. The hotel is owned by the Anhui
Yuanyi Hotel Co.
Asia-Pacific Editor:
Jorge
Sidron
Phone: (973) 898-0011
[email protected]
For promotional
opportunities in the E-letters, contact [email protected].