Accor, Alesayi Group to expand ibis network in KSA

Accor Middle East, one of the major hospitality groups in the region, has forged a strategic alliance with the Alesayi Group, a leading Saudi conglomerate comprising over 60 companies worldwide, to develop a minimum of 10 new hotel properties by 2018 across the Kingdom.
The agreement was signed last October at Accor head office in Paris between Accor Group Chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin and Alesayi Group President and CEO Mohammed Omar Kassem Alesayi.
Following this agreement, a management contract was signed in Jeddah in December for the development of the first three ibis hotels in Riyadh and Jeddah. Ibis’ two hotels in Jeddah will be of 200 to 300 rooms, while Riyadh hotel will have 194 room.
Alesayi said: “We are very proud in forging this strategic alliance with Accor Group developing the ibis brand network of economy hotels in the Kingdom.”
Ibis, described as the leading and resilient worldwide economy brand of Accor, has earned a worldwide reputation for excellent services at very competitive prices. The first hotel brand, in Europe, is to be awarded the ISO 9001 certification. All the ibis hotels in the Middle East are ISO 9001 certified.
Christophe Landais, MD for Accor Middle East, said, “The Middle East, and specifically Saudi Arabia, is a prominent market for Accor’s growth, which will be driven with the support of strategic partnerships with major hotel investors. Alesayi Group shares our vision and ambition to develop in the Kingdom a hotel network with international standards, a very high level of comfort at affordable price for clients thanks to our ibis brand.”
Accor’s first ibis in the Kingdom was launched in Riyadh, in December 2012. With the second property, ibis Yanbu, set to open in first quarter of 2014, the brand claims to have been successful in the market.