The Pioneering Merger Between Accor and Ennismore Are Set To Inaugurate A New Way Of Hospitality

The French hospitality colossus Accor announced that it had entered a new partnership with Ennismore, a global hospitality developer and operator to form a groundbreaking lifestyle entity. The intention is to bring together two of the sector’s biggest players in an innovatory move, which would set the tone for a heap of exceptional, guest-centric experiences under 12 prevailing brands.

Ennismore's merging will Accour encompass several lifestyle brands including Mondrain, SO/, Hyde, Mama Shelter, 25hours, 21c Museum, Tribe, Jo&Joe, and more, and would shelter them under a single entity with Ennismore's name under it.

Sharan Pasricha, founder, and CEO of Ennismore, owner of Hoxton and Gleneagles, and Gaurav Bhushan, CEO of Accor Lifestyle, will collaboratively lead the new lifestyle entity, of which Bhushan will own two-thirds and Pasricha one-third. The company will base its headquarters in London, England.

The 40-year old entrepreneur was named as one of Conde Nast Traveller’s “50 People Changing the Way We Travel,” who founded the business back in 2011 and forethought the strategy of expanding the hospitality business over the globe. Sharan Pasricha leads a team of over 150 employees in his London and New York offices, and 2,500 across his hotels and restaurants.

The combined entity will comprise 12 brands with 73 hotels in operation with a committed pipeline of more than 110 hotels in the establishment phase. Another 70 hotels, and over 150 destination restaurants and bars, are also under active discussion.

The CEO of Accor lifestyle, Gaurav Bhushan launched at Accor in Australia was appointed global chief development officer of Accor in 2015, where he was responsible for the group’s network development worldwide, as well as M&A and Strategic Partnerships. Bhushan said, “I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this journey from the beginning.“ His leadership led Accor to experience an unprecedented expansion with the opening of one hotel a day on average. "With only two hotels in 2017, we began studying this space quite vigorously. Our main focus has always been analyzing customers’ behavior, trying to understand, very carefully, the choices they consistently make. Evidently, there had been a shift from a functional approach, to a more experiential one. Hence, our focus was then directed towards building experience-led brands with that notion at the core.” he added.

For his role, Willis is anticipating the influence Ennismore can have on Accor’s operations in India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey.“ Setting up Ennismore with a focus on lifestyle as its own segment emphasizes the importance of this market for Accor,” Willis mentions. He further adds, “Having a lifestyle division with its own dedicated team ensures that focus is given to the brands in regards to expansion and property openings.”

Regarding Ennismore, Pasricha references SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences, which is set to welcome guests, residential, hotels in the second quarter of 2021. Besides this project led by Bhusan, a 25-hour property will be opening at the emirate’s bustling One Central featuring around 500 keys.

“The essence of this partnership is rooted in benefitting from the scale, size, distribution, network, and reach of Europe’s largest hotel company, Accor, and the independence, autonomy, authenticity, storytelling, and creativity of Ennismore,” says Pasricha.